Israeli air and ground forces killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Palestinian health officials said, as the Israeli military said its troops had come under fire, APA reports quoting Reuters.
The military said aircraft and tanks hit eight Hamas positions in Gaza after its forces had been shot at and had explosive devices hurled at them along the border. More air strikes pounded Gaza as darkness fell in what the military described as a “wide-scale attack against Hamas”.
Israeli media said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding discussions with cabinet colleagues and military chiefs about the escalation of hostilities during the long-running border protests on the Israel-Gaza frontier.
Hamas claimed three dead as members of the Islamist group. The fourth was a civilian, local residents and medics said. At least 120 Palestinians were wounded.
Earlier, Hamas defied Israeli calls to stop launching incendiary balloons from the Gaza Strip, as Israel’s defence minister threatened to order a military offensive to prevent them. Fires caused by kites and helium-filled balloons have ravaged farmland in Israel in recent months.