IDF strikes Gaza terror squad after drone drops IED on troops

The IDF struck a terror cell in the southern Gaza Strip after a drone dropped an IED on a military position along the border fence, the Israeli military said in a statement.

While no IDF troops were injured, there was slight damage to military vehicles by the drone attack.

According to Palestinian reports the cell was hit near Rafiah in the southern Strip.

Video from the scene of the damaged #IDF vehicle pic.twitter.com/SGMpWwUia4

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The incident came hours after the IDF struck several Hamas posts in the northern Gaza Stripon Friday night in retaliation for five rockets which were fired towards southern Israel communities bordering the Hamas-run enclave.

The military said that an IDF tank shelled a Hamas outpost north of Beit Hanoun and an IAF drone stuck a Hamas observation point near Beit Lahia.

The strikes came shortly after incoming rocket sirens were activated in the college-town of Sderot and the communities of Ibim and Kibbutz Or Haner. While there were no injuries two women were treated for shock.

A small fire also broke out after at least one rocket hit an open area outside Sderot.

The exchange of fire came hours after two Palestinian teenagers were killed by IDF fire during the weekly Great Return March protests along the Gaza border fence which saw some 6,200 Palestinians riot along the fence, throwing explosive devices at troops.

“The demonstrations were of an especially violent nature, which included a large amount of IEDs, grenades and Molotov cocktails being thrown towards IDF forces along the fence,” read a statement provided by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. “There is noticeable damage to the border fence in several locations, and there has been a rising number of attempts to approach the border fence.”

The Hamas-run health ministry identified one of those killed as 17-year-old Ali al-Ashqar who was shot in the neck in northern Gaza Strip. A second teenager, 14 year-old Khaled al-Raba’i was shot in the stomach east of Gaza City.

Another 48 protesters were injured by live bullets and 33 others by rubber-coated rounds, including two medics and a photojournalist.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem tweeted in response to the deaths that “violating the blood of peaceful demonstrators in the marches of return and deliberately targeting them is a crime that the occupation bears all its repercussions.”