Israeli air strikes pound Gaza after rocket attack

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Sunday, prompting the Israeli military to respond with air strikes and tank fire on targets inside Gaza.

There were no injuries when the rocket landed in a residential area in the town of Sderot.

The Israeli military said aircraft had attacked targets in the northern Gaza Strip and added that since the beginning of the year, 14 Gaza rockets had hit Israel.

Fourteen rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza in 2016, according to the IDF.

Israel lauded on Saturday that the Turkish parliament has approved a bilateral reconciliation agreement over the weekend, which put an end to a six-year rift.

The Turkish government vowed to back the Palestinian side against what it said were disproportionate Israeli actions that breach worldwide law.

The three Palestinian Arabic dailies focused on Monday on the Israeli aerial bombing which targeted a location near the town of Beit Hanoun, northeast of Gaza.

Schuster, whose purview includes Sderot – the city that was hit by Sunday’s rocket – was referring to the act of aggression, which Palestinian media attributed to the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Earlier this month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first trip overseas since the coup bid, meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the first time since 2015. “Turkey should think twice before it criticizes the military operations of other countries”.

“We will not keep silent in light of Turkey’s baseless denunciation of us”, the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The Turkish parliament formally ratified it late on Friday, after a delay caused by the attempted coup.

It was followed by a massive government crackdown on alleged coup sympathisers which has drawn European Union criticism that it may violate human rights.

Relations between Israel and Turkey broke down in the aftermath of the Mavi Marmara incident in May 2010, when Israeli commandos boarded and killed nine Turkish citizens in clashes on a boat attempting to break Israel’s Gaza blockade. In addition, the remains of Israeli soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, killed in the 2014 Gaza war with Hamas, are being held in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel clarified that it is not interested in an escalation.