In Israeli air raids earlier in the day, one person was wounded in the town of Rafah. Israeli warplanes also fired missiles at buildings in Jabaliya and Beit Hanoun refugee camps. Security officials in Gaza said that Israeli F16 fighter planes hit twice in the north, outside residential areas near the industrial zone.
The attacks came hours after seven mortar shells were fired from the territory toward southern Israel. Nobody was hurt in that attack. Israeli media quoted military officials as saying the strikes against Gaza were in retaliation for the rockets fired from Gaza at Israel.
In another development, Canaan Obeid, deputy director of the Gaza Power Authority, announced late Thursday that the only power plant in Gaza will stop functioning soon as it will run out of fuel. Obeid told reporters that the electricity crisis in Gaza was caused by the lack of fuel, which is drying up owing to the blockade of goods enforced by Israel on the strip. The fuel crunch has forced the authority to halve its daily power output to 25MW, he added.
