Jerusalem, July 1 (IANS) Israeli forces launched massive airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight Monday, hitting dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in retaliation to the increased rocket attacks from the Palestinian enclave.
Among the 34 targets were a Hamas complex in Rafah that hosted a weapons storage facility along with residents, Xinhua quoted an Israeli army radio as saying.
The Palestinians reported four people wounded and one missing in an attack near Khan Yunis that targeted a site belonging to a Hamas military wing.
Earlier Monday evening, a rocket fired from Gaza fell in an open area in western Negev.
Also, four rockets were launched after the airstrikes, while another three were fired early Tuesday morning into Israeli communities.
No injuries were reported, Israeli media said.
Hours prior to the airstrikes, security forces and civilian volunteers discovered the bodies of three Israeli teens who were abducted by militants in the West Bank June 12, bringing to an end a massive manhunt which saw thousands of troops combing the West Bank and the arrests of over 400 Palestinian suspects, most of them Hamas members.
The bodies of Gilad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrah, aged 16 to 19 years, were found in the southern West Bank, north of Hebron, between the Palestinian town of Beit Ummar and Halhul, an area controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
The discovery of the bodies prompted furious reactions from Israeli politicians across the spectrum.
“Our boys were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by human animals,” Xinhua quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying during an emergency meeting of his security cabinet Monday.
“Hamas is responsible and Hamas will pay,” Netanyahu said.
However, it was not clear whether the kidnappers acted on their own or were instructed by Hamas’ leadership in Gaza.