GAZA STRIP (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s warplanes struck the Gaza Strip early Saturday, the military said, allegedly after rocket fire against the occupied territories.
The aggression came hours after U.S. President Joe Biden visited the territories and the occupied West Bank.
The regime’s military alleged in a statement that it targeted in the early hours of Saturday morning a Hamas underground facility, which the resistance movement used for the production of rocket materials in the central Gaza Strip.
Palestinians reported that several strikes hit areas near Gaza City shortly before 5 a.m. local time (0200 GMT).
Videos and pictures on social media showed large fireballs rising following the strikes on unspecified targets.
According to the Arabic-language Palestine Today news agency, the regime’s warplanes launched eight missiles at a site for Hamas resistance movement near al-Baydar area, west of Gaza City.
Meanwhile, the report added that the regime’s gunboats also fired at Palestinian fishermen’s boats in the northern Gaza Strip.
The regime’s aircraft also bombed a site west of Nuseirat refugee camp, located five kilometers (3.1 miles) northeast of Deir al-Balah city, early on Saturday morning.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem condemned the airstrikes, stating that they fall within the framework of the regime’s crimes and terrorist behavior.
“The Zionist occupation, despite all means of terrorism and complete U.S. support, will not be able to break down the valiant resistance of our steadfast people. We will continue our resistance and legitimate struggle until usurpers are fully expelled from all our Palestinian lands,” he added.
Fawzi Barhoum, another Hamas spokesman, highlighted that the recent strikes on the Gaza Strip are in continuation of the regime’s all-out aggression against Palestinian people, lands and sacred sites.
The Gaza Strip has been under a Zionist blockade since 2007. The siege has inflicted severe hardship on residents. The poverty rate among Gaza’s population has reached 53 percent, while “extreme poverty” stands at 33.8 percent, according to statistics by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).