For the first time since the conclusion of Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, Israel has initiated a strike on Gaza.

Palestinian media reported Tuesday night that the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike against two targets in the Gaza Strip, one on the eastern side of the city and the other in the northern Gaza Strip. The Safa Palestinian news agency reported that Israel bombed a factory in the al-Shugaya neighborhood.

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Palestinian sources claimed no one was injured in the IAF strikes. Moreover, the source stated that all security targets and military installations in the Gaza Strip were evacuated.





The site of the Eshkol explosion (Photo: Eshkol Regional Council)

A projectile launched from the Gaza Strip exploded Tuesday evening in the Eshkol Regional Council. No one was hurt and no damage caused.Earlier Tuesday two mortars were fired from Gaza toward Israel, but landed in Palestinian territory without any damage.

It is still unclear whether it was a Qassam rocket or a mortar shell.





Shrapnel found at the Eshkol explosion site (Photo: Eshkol Regional Council)

"Four governments have changed and the Qassams are still exploding over our heads," said Eshkol's head Haim Yellin.

"The rule for a Qassam here must be the same as that for Tel Aviv. The new Government must eradicate the rocket fire," he insisted.

An Eshkol resident said: "There's rocket-fire once every few weeks, every time for a different reason – whether Obama's visit or something else.

Northern tension

"In the end, we're constantly reminded that we live near Gaza and that we have no calm. Our children can't really recover from last year's events."

Also Tuesday, a mortar exploded on the Israeli side of the border with Syria in the Golan Heights near Tel Fares. A short time later an IDF patrol near Tel Hazaka in the Golan Heights was hit by small arms fire. No injuries or damages were reported.

IDF tanks fired across the Syrian border at the source of the fire in response. The tanks achieved a direct hit.

The IDF related the information to UN sources. Military sources noted that in recent weeks a number of incidents of gunfire occurred from the same source.

Earlier, a mortar shell exploded in northern Israel, near the Syrian border in the Tel-Fars area in the Golan Heights.

The IDF is searching for the shell's remains, and no damage was reported.

The shell is the latest in a series of incidents in which the Syrian civil war has spilled across the border in the form of mortar and gun fire.

Yoav Zitun and Ilana Curiel contributed to the report

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