World

Israel strikes Hamas targets in Gaza after rocket hits house

March 26, 2019 5:16 am

Israel has carried out strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, hours after a rocket hit a house north of Tel Aviv.

The Israel Defense Forces said the office of Hamas’s political leader and the group’s military intelligence headquarters were among the targets.

Gaza’s health ministry said at least two people were injured in the strikes.

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The IDF earlier blamed Hamas, which controls Gaza, for the launch of the rocket that hit the Israeli community of Mishmeret, injuring seven people.

“Israel will not tolerate this, I will not tolerate this,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters during a ceremony in Washington at which US President Donald Trump formally recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

“Israel is responding forcefully to this wanton aggression,” Mr Netanyahu added.

Mr Trump denounced the attack as “despicable” and said the US “recognises Israel’s absolute right to defend itself”.

So far no Palestinian militant group has said it fired the rocket. One unnamed Hamas official said it had “no interest” in doing so.