Twenty rockets were fired from Gaza toward southern Israel Sunday, hours after Israel said it killed a Palestinian who tried to place a bomb along the Israel-Gaza barrier fence.
There was no immediate claim for the rocket fire, but it appeared to be meant to avenge the death of the militant. Palestinians were furious over the image of the man's lifeless body dangling off the front of an Israeli bulldozer that had crossed into Gaza to retrieve it. It also drew criticism for the territory's Hamas rulers for not responding. Israel said another Palestinian was shot and wounded in the clash.
The Israeli military reported air raid sirens throughout southern Israel, and said at least 20 rockets had been fired. There were no reports of damage or injuries on the Israeli side, but it was the heaviest barrage of rocket fire in several months.
"Following the successful thwarting of the attack near the Gaza Strip fence earlier this morning, an IDF (Israeli army) bulldozer extracted the body of one of the attackers," a military spokeswoman told AFP.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement identified the dead man as Mohammed Al-Naem, 27, a member of its armed forces.
Shortly after dark, cross-border fire broke out from the Gaza Strip, setting off warning sirens in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and several other locations, the Israeli army said.
"Twenty launches were identified from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli territory," a military statement said.
It did not specify if they were rockets or shorter range mortar fire but said that about 10 attacks were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
There were no reports of casualties.
Palestinian security sources reported outgoing rocket fire.
Earlier Sunday, the Israeli army had said it "spotted two terrorists approaching the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip and placing an explosive device adjacent to it".
"The troops opened fire towards them. A hit was identified," a military statement said.
Following the incident, a video from Gaza emerged on social media showing a bulldozer approaching a body as young, apparently unarmed men, were trying to retrieve it.
The sound of gunfire is heard and the men ultimately run away as the bulldozer collects the body. A tank can be seen positioned nearby.
The Gaza health ministry said that two civilians were wounded by Israeli gunfire at the scene.
Hawkish Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has pursued a policy of retaining the bodies of militants from Gaza as bargaining chips to pressure Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Palestinian enclave, which has been holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers since 2014.
The Israeli army meanwhile distributed footage of "the explosive device the terror squad placed this morning," noting that the same Islamic Jihad "squad was involved in two previous attempts to place IEDs near the fence during the last few months".
Israel and the Islamic Jihad group engaged in a heavy round of fighting last November after the Israeli military killed a top Islamic Jihad commander.
Since then, Israel and the more powerful Hamas group have been working through Egyptian mediators to cement an informal cease-fire. But Islamic Jihad has continued to try to carry out attacks.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, accused the Israeli military of abusing the corpse, saying that it "bears the consequences of the ugly crime."
The military said it was removing the body in a way that prevented further danger to those around.
But the images generated widespread anger in Gaza, where it was seen as a provocation and violation of Islamic principles that call for respect for the dead.
It also sparked criticism of Hamas on social media, with people accusing the group of appearing weak and allowing Israel to operate with impunity inside Gaza's territory. One image on social media showed a picture of Jesus draped with a Palestinian flag hanging off the front of a bulldozer.
Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett rejected the criticism, noting that Hamas has been holding the bodies of two Israeli soldiers since they were killed in the 2014 Gaza war.
"I back the military, which killed the terrorists and collected the body," he said. "That's what should be done and that is what was done."
The incident comes amid a relative lull along the security fence separating Israel from Gaza. Last week, Israel announced it would provide hundreds of additional work permits for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in a new step aimed at solidifying an informal cease-fire with the Hamas.
Tens of thousands of Gazans used to work in Israel. But Israel virtually sealed the border when it joined Egypt in imposing a crippling blockade on Gaza after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. The blockade, along with three wars between Hamas and Israel, has devastated the economy in Gaza, where unemployment is over 50%.
AFP
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