GAZA CITY (Dispatches) -- Hamas on Sunday strongly condemned new attacks by the occupying regime of Israel on the Gaza Strip, saying Tel Aviv made a grave miscalculation when it bombed the besieged enclave.
The Zionist regime airstrikes against the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah city in the early hours of Sunday, resulting in a “massive explosion”.
Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV said the exact area struck during the attacks was the Arin base, which is affiliated to Gaza’s resistance groups.
The Israeli military said in a statement its fighter jets struck four weapons storage and manufacturing sites belonging to Hamas in response to a shooting attack that critically wounded a Zionist soldier.
The raids came a day after the occupying regime attacked Palestinian protesters rallying along Gaza’s fence separating it from the occupied territories.
At least 17 Palestinians, including 10 children, were wounded during the attack, which saw the forces firing live ammunition at the protesters.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad had warned the Zionist regime against new aggression following the May war on Gaza, which saw Palestinian resistance movements rain down some 4,000 rockets on the occupied territories.
“It is fairly clear that Zionist occupiers miscalculated the situation, did not take the message of our people and resistance factions into account, and opened fire directly at them, injuring journalists, children and dozens of others,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement on Sunday.
He said the Zionist regime is “trying to cover up its failure and disappointment vis-a-vis the steadfastness of our people and their valiant resistance.”
“Gaza, once again, will strongly, robustly and determinedly defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other sacred sites, and will destroy the enemy by its fire,” Barhoum said.
The Zionist military said it had sent additional forces to the Gaza fence area. Israeli media outlets reported the military had increased deployment of its Iron Dome missile system.
Among the two Palestinians critically injured was a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the head, Gaza’s health ministry said. It described most of the other injuries as moderate, including gunshots to limbs, backs and abdomens.