Turkey slams Israeli strikes in Gaza despite reconciliation

Two of the rockets hit houses in the town of Sderot and caused damages.

Israel said Monday its forces carried out dozens of air and tank strikes in Gazain response to a rocket that hit a southern Israeli town.

Palestinian security officers survey damage done by an Israeli air strike on a Hamas target in Gaza on August 22, 2016.

Israel says the Gaza blockade is needed to curb arms smuggling by Hamas, an Islamist group that last fought a war with Israel in 2014.

Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israel have fought three wars since 2008, including the most recent conflict in the summer of 2014 that killed 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis.

Small armed cells – some of which have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group – have defied the ceasefire agreement and occasionally launch rockets at Israel, incurring the wrath of the Israeli armed forces.

Turkey condemned Israel for its attacks on Gaza and said that it would continue to criticize Israel despite agreeing to restore diplomatic ties.

Ma’an news agency said at least five Palestinians were injured in the Israeli attacks.

Earlier in the day the Israeli army said aircraft and tanks had targeted two Hamas posts.

“Turkey should think twice before it criticizes the military actions of other countries”, the statement read, adding that Israel would “continue to protect innocent people from rocket fire on our turf, in accordance with worldwide law and in accordance with our conscience and responsibility”.

A rocket fired from Gaza on July 1 struck a pre-school in Sderot, which was empty at the time.

The strikes on Sunday night and early Monday morning came after a retaliatory strike on two targets in northern Gaza earlier on Sunday.

“Turkey should think twice before criticising the military actions of others”, the Israeli statement added, without elaborating.

Israel ended its permanent military and civilian presence in the Gaza Strip in 2005 in what it called the “Gaza disengagement”, in which all the Israeli Jewish-only settlements in the strip were dismantled and the Israeli citizens living there evicted.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on Sderot.