Israel will increase strength of attacks as necessary: Netanyahu

Jerusalem, July 15: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that Israel will increase the strength of attacks as necessary. Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel has decided to take strong action against Hamas terrorism after consultation with state officials. On Saturday afternoon, Israeli forces conducted the third wave of strikes on 40 militant targets in the Gaza Strip and the focus of the third wave was a widescale strike of the Hamas battalion headquarters in Beit Lahia, Xinhua reported.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced it had made two waves of strikes on two Hamas terror tunnels as well as several Hamas military sites between Friday midnight and early Saturday morning. More than 90 mortars and rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory between Friday midnight and Saturday. Approximately 20 projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system and some 73 projectiles landed in open areas, according to the IDF. Israeli media reported that in the early evening hours of the Jewish Sabbath a rocket hit a house in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, injuring three Israelis. (IANS)