Gaza

Israel's Home Front Command said in a notice that several rockets were fired at southern Israel "minutes" after 8 p.m. local time, which is the reported time for an Egypt-brokered cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported.

Islamic Jihad's southern commander, Khaled Mansour, was killed in an airstrike in the city of Rafah, dpa news agency quoted the military announcement as saying. Two other senior PIJ members were also killed, including Mansour's deputy, it said.

The UN's most powerful body agreed to address the attacks following requests for it to do so made by the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, France, Norway and China on Saturday, dpa news agency reported, citing diplomatic sources.

Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman has said that the attack on Monday was made in response to the launch of incendiary balloons towards southern Israel, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. According to the Palestinian security sources, the posts and facilities belong to al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas armed wing in southern, central and northern Gaza Strip. Medical sources said no injuries were reported, while the security sources said that Hamas militants evacuated all the posts and facilities in the Gaza Strip for fear of being targeted by Israeli airstrikes.

The Israeli fighter jets struck a military compound and rocket launching site of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas Movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, Xinhua news agency quoted the IDF as saying. "The rocket launching site was in a civilian area, once again emphasizing how Hamas endangers Palestinian civilians," the IDF said, vowing to continue to respond as necessary to Hamas activities emanating from Gaza.

The study said that "80 per cent of the population of the Gaza Strip spend most of their times in complete darkness, with electricity only available for eight hours a day at best". "This problem is more threatening to the health and well-being of the Gaza Strip residents, which is home to more than 2 million people, with the continuing rise of temperatures during summer days," the study said.

The sources said that late Saturday night, the Israeli war jets fired two missiles at a military training post south of Gaza city that belongs to al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Hamas movement, Xinhua news agency reported.Several missiles also targeted various Hamas military posts in northern and western Gaza, said the sources. No injury was reported.

The resolution was adopted with 24 countries voting in favour of the motion while 9 votings against it. India was amongst the 14 countries that abstained. The resolution was denounced by the Israeli authorities who called it an attempt to “whitewash crimes committed by the terror”. The Israel foreign ministry immediately said that it was not going to cooperate with the probe.

Violence between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at site, which is sacred for both Muslims and Jews, contributed to increasing tensions before the outbreak of the 11-day military conflict in and around Gaza, reports dpa news agency. The unrest earlier in May was triggered by Palestinian anger over Israeli police blockades in the Old City during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Violent tension and 11 days of a tit-for-tat trade of fire in the besieged coastal enclave ended at 2 a.m. on Friday after the ceasefire came into effect, Xinhua news agency reported. Abu Obeida, a spokesman of Hamas' armed wing al-Qassam Brigades, said in a speech aired on the movement's al-Aqsa television that militant groups halted firing rockets at Israel to make the ceasefire successful.