GAZA: Israel said
it opened fire on armed Palestinians on Gaza's border overnight and Hamas's
health ministry reported three dead yesterday, the latest in a series of
incidents along the tense barrier. Israel's tank and helicopter fire came after
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired three rockets at Israel late
Saturday, the army said, the second such attack in 24 hours.

Two rockets were
intercepted by Israel's air defense systems, it said, without specifying what
happened to the third. Police reported no casualties in Israel, but said a
rocket fragment fell on a house in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Israeli
medics said they had treated six people, including two with minor injuries
sustained while running to bomb shelters and four others with panic attacks.

Hours later,
Israel's army said "troops spotted a number of armed suspects adjacent to
the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip". It added that an
"attack helicopter and a tank fired towards them". The health
ministry in the Palestinian enclave run by Islamist movement Hamas reported
three dead and said another Palestinian was hospitalised following the incident
north of Beit Lahia. It identified those killed as Mahmoud Al-Walayda, 24,
Mohammed Abu Namus, 27, and Mohammed Samir Al-Taramsi, 26.

Hamas in a
statement called their deaths "another crime by the Israeli occupation to
be added to its grim toll against the Palestinian people's rights, land and
holy sites." Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad issued a statement
mourning their deaths, but did not claim them as members. "We affirm the
right of our people to resist and confront all forms of Zionist
aggression," it said. A series of incidents along the Gaza border has
tested a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel in recent days.

On Friday night,
a rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel and was intercepted by missile defense
systems. Israel said in response it carried out strikes on two Hamas
"underground targets" in the northern and central Gaza Strip, without
providing further details. A Gaza security source reported three Israeli
strikes on a Hamas observation post, an unidentified target near Gaza City and
one that hit open ground in the central part of the enclave. No casualties were
reported.

Netanyahu under
pressure

The rocket fire
and retaliation came after a series of other incidents along the Gaza border
since the start of the month. A week ago, a Palestinian shot at Israeli
soldiers along the frontier and was killed when troops returned fire, the army
and Hamas's health ministry said.

A day before
that, Israel's army said its troops shot dead four heavily armed Palestinians
on the border, adding one had managed to cross and throw a grenade at soldiers.
Earlier on August 1, a Palestinian seeking to avenge his brother's death by
Israeli fire entered Israel from Gaza and opened fire on soldiers, the army
said. Three Israeli soldiers were wounded and the Palestinian was killed, the
army said. Regular protests and clashes erupted along the border of the
blockaded Gaza Strip in March 2018.

At least 305
Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza or the border area since
then, the majority during demonstrations and clashes. Seven Israelis have also
been killed in Gaza-related violence over the same period. Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is widely seen as wanting to avoid an escalation in
the Gaza Strip before September 17 elections, but he also faces heavy political
pressure to respond firmly.

Israel and
Palestinian militants in Gaza, including Hamas, have fought three wars since
2008. Beyond the Gaza incidents, there has also been an uptick in tension in
Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. On Friday, two Israelis were wounded in a
Palestinian car-ramming near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and the
assailant was shot dead, authorities said. That followed an incident on
Thursday when two Palestinian youths attacked police officers with knives in
east Jerusalem's Old City.

One officer was
moderately wounded, while police shot both of the Palestinians. One was killed
and the second was in critical condition. Israel occupied the West Bank and
east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move
never recognized by the international community. It views the entire city as
its capital, while the Palestinians see the eastern sector, where key holy
sites are located for Christians, Muslims and Jews, as the capital of their
future state.- AFP