Israel launches airstrikes on Gaza

The Israeli army launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the first such attack on the territory since a truce ended an eight-day war in November 2012. The bombing campaign which began on November 13 resulted in 161 deaths, many of them Palestinian civilians. A ceasefire was brokered by the then, newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, ended the conflict on November 21. “Occupation planes bombarded an open area in northern Gaza, there were no wounded," said a statement from the Hamas Interior Ministry on Wednesday. The Israeli armed forces confirmed on Tuesday that it had launched airstrikes against two “terror targets” in northern Gaza, recording direct hits. Gaza then retaliated by firing a rocket which exploded in the southern Israeli region of Eshkol, although no one was reportedly injured. An Israeli security source told Arabstoday that Israeli found evidence that the rocket was fired by rebel groups rather than by Hamas.