Gaza (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)

Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip after a first round of rocket fire in more than a month from the enclave, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

In the night from Saturday to Sunday, three rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas armed movement, towards Israel, the Israeli army reported.

Two of the three rockets were intercepted by the Israeli "Iron Dome" missile device and rocket fragments fell on a residence in Sderot, a town a few kilometers east of the Gaza Strip, according to the military. and the Israeli police.

Nobody was directly injured by these rocket fragments, but four civilians were treated for "panic attacks" including a 76-year-old woman evacuated to the hospital, according to Israeli relief.

In retaliation for the strikes, the Israeli army announced that it fired from a helicopter and tank at "armed suspects in Gaza approaching the barrier" separating Israel from the Palestinian enclave.

The Gaza Health Ministry on Sunday morning recorded three dead in the Israeli strikes: Mahmoud Adel al-Walaydeh, 24, Mohamed Farid Abu Namous, 27, and Mohamed Samir al-Taramsi, 26. The three bodies, along with one wounded, were transported to the Indonesian hospital in Gaza, according to the ministry.

- First since July -

On Friday night, a rocket was intercepted by the Israeli missile defense shield. The rocket fire was the first since July 12 from Gaza, home to about two million Palestinians.

In retaliation, an Israeli fighter plane struck at least three targets in the Gaza Strip, according to a Palestinian security source. The Israeli army, for its part, reported two strikes against "underground targets" of Hamas in the north and in the center of the Gaza Strip.

If these rocket attacks are the first since mid-July, however, they occur after a dozen days of tension in the enclave controlled since 2007 by Hamas, enemy of Israel.

Last week, Israel announced it had foiled a "major" attack on its border with Gaza by killing four Palestinians in "uniforms", carrying assault rifles, rocket launchers and grenades and trying to infiltrate sideways. Israeli.

Hamas had not claimed responsibility for this infiltration attempt, and the Israeli authorities did not specify the allegiance of the alleged commando, but blamed the Islamist movement for controlling the Gaza Strip. Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008.

And since March 2018, the Gaza Strip has been the scene along the border fence with Israel of weekly protests usually accompanied by violence, including the lifting of the strict Israeli blockade imposed for more than ten years in the enclave.

Since then, at least 305 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire, the vast majority of them in clashes with these rallies. Others died in Israeli strikes in retaliation for hostile acts from the enclave.

Seven Israelis were killed in the violence.

© 2019 AFP