Israeli aircraft launch two raids in Gaza

Israel carried out an air raid on the Gaza Strip early Monday targeting “a group of terrorists preparing to fire rockets against south Israel,” the army said in a statement. The army said the target was hit, but Palestinian witnesses said the strike on the Deir al-Balah region in the central Gaza Strip caused no casualties or damage. Violence broke out at the end of June with Palestinians firing rockets at Israel and Israelis replying with air raids on the territory ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement. The hostilities interrupted a fragile truce observed for more than a year by Hamas. The other armed factions in the Gaza Strip, including Islamic Jihad, had continued regularly to fire rockets or mortar shells at Israeli territory. The Zeitoun neighborhood, south of Gaza city, was also raided although no injuries were reported. Eyewitnesses said that Israeli planes bombed the vicinity of Abu Jarad that belongs to the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, targeting a group of resistance fighters without causing any casualties. Eyewitnesses said residents were terrified after Israeli planes bombed the same spot twice. Egypt in a mediating role had recently sponsored an agreement for a cease-fire between Israeli and Palestinian factions, which has apparently been breached by Monday's raids. Sixteen people have reportedly died and 74, including children, injured in recent Israeli attacks on Gaza. In related news, Israeli media stated Sunday evening that Palestinians fired at Israeli engineering vehicles near the border fence with Gaza. Israel's Channel 1 said a bulldozer was damaged in the fire.