Israeli tanks shell Hamas positions in Gaza Strip

Israeli battle tanks targeted the southern part of the Gaza Strip as the Tel Aviv regime goes ahead with its acts of aggression against the besieged Palestinian coastal sliver.

Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported that four rounds of shell struck two observation posts belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement in the eastern Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of damage caused.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the shelling came after two young Palestinian men approached the border fence between the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories near the Karni Crossing, and set fire to a tunnel detection device.

The statement added that the two Palestinians did not manage to cross the fence.

The development came only three days after Israeli forces pounded the Palestinian town of Beit Lahia after dozens of rocket sirens sounded in southern Israel.

Israeli media outlets reported that Iron Dome anti-missile systems were activated several times late on Sunday as a result of artillery fire from a drill carried out by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

On Saturday, Israeli fighter jets struck Hamas positions in the border city of Rafah, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Gaza City. 

The Israeli military claimed that the attack was in response to an incident earlier that day in which four Palestinians illegally crossed the border fence into Israel.

The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.

Israel has also launched several wars on the Palestinian coastal sliver, the last of which began in early July 2014. The military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians. Over 11,100 others were also wounded in the war.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

The Israeli regime denies about 1.8 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs with proper wages as well as adequate healthcare and education.