IAF strikes northern Gaza
Air force launches strike in northern Gaza and attacks office used for terror activities in Gaza City, in response to earlier Qassam rocket and mortar shell attacks on southern Israel attack. IDF also responds with artillery fire at Strip. The region suffered two other attacks Friday, when rocket launched from Gaza landed in Avocado orchard, another landed near town of Sderot
Israel Air Force launched three attacks Saturday night in the northern Gaza Strip at areas from which Qassam rockets have been fired and attacked a structure used as an office for terror activities in Gaza City, in response to earlier attacks on Israeli targets.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has instructed the IDF to respond harshly to any Qassam or mortar attack on Israel.
Mofaz has also relayed a message to the Palestinian Authority to prevent such attacks.
The southern Nativ Ha'asara community sustained a Qassam attack Saturday, which resulted in damages to the community's hothouses and an electric pole. No injuries were reported in the attack.
Earlier, two rockets were launched at the Western Negev region, but landed in an open field, causing no injuries or damage.
The IDF responded to the attacks with artillery rounds fired at the areas in the Strip from which the rockets were launched.
The al-Aqsa Martyra Brigades, the Fatah's armed wing, claimed responsibility for the Qassam attacks on Israel Saturday.
"The rocket launching was carried out in response to ongoing Israeli aggression, and the killing of two Palestinians in the last 24 hours," a member of the organization said.
The attacks Saturday follow two similar incidents that took place on Friday, in which rockets were launched at the region.
A Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip Friday landed in an avocado orchard in the western Negev, missing by dozens of meters IDF artillery batteries positioned nearby.
A worker alerted the police after the rocket hit and damaged an avocado tree in the orchard. Security officials collected the empty shell of the rocket, noting it is larger than Qassam shells collected in the past.
Another Qassam rocket landed in open fields near the southern town of Sderot overnight Friday, bringing the number of rockets fired since Wednesday to four.
Palestinians reported that members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, were behind the firing.
The army fired rounds of artillery on open fields in the Gaza Strip Friday afternoon in response to the attack.
IDF sinks Palestinian boat
In a separate incident on Saturday, an IDF ship sank a Palestinian fishing boat, after the boat entered prohibited waters off the southern Gaza Strip coast.
Palestinian medics reported that a 22-year-old Palestinian, who was on the boar, was killed in the incident.
A 10-meter (30-feet) fishing vessel, which made its way from Egypt toward the Gaza Strip, entered prohibited waters. An IDF navy ship, which patrols the area on a regular basis, noticed the boat and ordered it to return to the permitted zone.
The Palestinian boat then opened fire toward the navy ship, which was also fired at from the shore. The soldiers shot in order to warn the vessel to stop, and when it continued to move in the prohibited zone, they fired at the boat, causing it to sink.
Ali Waked, Tova Dadon and Shmulik Haddad contributed to the report
