Israeli military threatens further airstrikes against Hamas' underground targets in Gaza
Palestinian protesters confront Israeli troops at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank on May 18, 2021.
The Israeli military on Tuesday warned that further airstrikes will be launched against Hamas' underground targets in the Gaza Strip, as a round of probably heaviest fighting between the two sides since 2014 has continued for nine days.
"We have had only limited success in this ... The rockets are often embedded within or under civilian infrastructure, making it very difficult to detect," said Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces, at a video briefing held for foreign journalists.
"We are trying to strike locations with the least impact. However, this is an ongoing effort which will be expanded to additional areas over the coming days," he added.
"At this stage the militant organizations still have the capacity to fire rockets to all ranges," the Israeli spokesman noted.
The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli bombardment since Hamas fired rockets against Jerusalem over a week ago. In Israel responded with intensive air strikes in the operation dubbed by the military as Guardian of the Walls.
Hamas and other militant groups have fired more than 3,300 rockets into Israel throughout the fighting, while the IDF have carried out hundreds of airattacks against targets in Gaza. A total of 213 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 1,000 others injured. In Israel, 12 people have been killed as a result of different attacks.
Also on Tuesday, Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Israel went on with a general strike to show solidarity with Gazans. Violent protests and clashes with Israeli security forces were seen in several areas after a short lull.
"Our heightened security alert is continuing," said Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. "We have seen a sharp increase in incidents in the last 24 hours."
