RNA - Israeli warplanes launched attacks on central, Southern and Eastern parts of the besieged enclave late on Saturday, while earlier in the day, Israeli tanks also fired upon the coastal area, Middle East News reported.
The Israeli army has confirmed the attacks, claiming they were launched in response to rockets fired at the occupied territories.
UN envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov has warned that the flare-up of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis in the Gaza Strip may result in war.
"This latest round of attacks is a warning to all of how close to the brink of war we are every day," he said, adding that "no one in Gaza can afford another war".
Israeli tank fire and airstrikes hit Gaza in recent days, as the Tel Aviv regime said its assault came in response to a barrage of rocket and mortar rounds fired at the occupied territories.
The military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed “responsibility for the striking of military positions and Zionist settlements”, saying their strikes were in response to Israeli attacks targeting their positions in recent days.
Amid the flare-up in the Gaza Strip, Hamas said Palestinian resistance groups have agreed to a ceasefire in the blockaded coastal sliver as long as Israel abides by a truce.
Between March 30 and May 15, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip protested for seven consecutive weeks calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the homes and villages they were forcibly expelled from by Zionist militias in 1948.
Since the start of the rallies in late March, some 120 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed and at least 13,000 injured along the fence in Gaza, with no reports of Israeli casualties, according to reports.
The Amnesty International has also stressed that the attacks on Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip are “willful killings constituting war crimes", while the UN Human Rights Council has also decided to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations and abuses which may amount to war crimes in the occupied Gaza Strip.
The violence was condemned by rights groups and most UN Security Council members, with even the US’ closest allies refusing to stand by Washington’s support for Tel Aviv.
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