Israeli army penetrates Gaza, arrests 13 Palestinians

The Israeli army on Thursday penetrated into the eastern area of the Gaza Strip, and arrested 13 Palestinians in the West Bank.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli military vehicles penetrated into the eastern area of the central Gaza Strip, and conducted sweeps by using bulldozers amid gunfire, but no casualties recorded.

The incursion came after Israeli warplanes raided the Gaza Strip, targeting military posts that belonged to the Islamic Hamas movement in response to the earlier firing of rockets into southern Israel.

According to Israeli army, the warplanes raided on a number of targets in a naval position of Hamas in response to the firing of a rocket from Gaza towards Israel.

However, it was the fourth time that homemade Palestinian rockets had been fired into the Israeli cities within days, several of them had been intercepted, while Israeli war jets attacked several military positions in the enclave.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club in the West Bank, had earlier announced that the Israeli army arrested at least 13 Palestinians in the West Bank.

It added that five were arrested in Jenin and the rest based in Tulkarem, Hebron, Ramallah and Silwad town in East Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Egypt, the UN, and Qatar had been mediating a calm understanding between Israel and Hamas movement.

The mediation was aimed at restoring calm in the enclave for easing the tight Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza Strip since 2007.

(NAN)