"Hamas will bear the consequences for all terror emanating from Gaza," the IDF said in a tweet. Sirens had sounded earlier in the southern port city of Ashkelon and the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, according to the army statement. Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel, seized control of Gaza from the rival Palestinian movement Fatah in 2007 in a near civil war. Since then, Hamas has fought three devastating wars with Israel in the coastal territory where about two million Palestinians live. Israel has since maintained a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip to prevent Hamas from arming.

Source: Dhaka Tribune December 26, 2020 12:56 UTC