A Palestinian man inspects a Hamas observation point targeted by Israeli tank fire near the border with Israel, eastern of Gaza City, on July 26, 2018. Israeli tanks on Wednesday bombarded Hamas military posts close to the border between eastern Gaza and Israel, killing three militants of the group, the Gaza health ministry said. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)
GAZA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Israeli tanks on Wednesday bombarded Hamas military posts close to the border between eastern Gaza and Israel, killing three militants of the group, the Gaza health ministry said.
A fourth one was moderately injured in the shelling, Ashraf al-Qedra, health ministry spokesman in Gaza, told reporters.
Security officials in Gaza said Israeli tanks fired several shells at four lookout posts belonging to the Hamas army wing al-Qassam Brigades.
Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman confirmed the tank bombardment on eastern Gaza in a press statement, saying the shelling came in response to the earlier fire from Gaza at an Israeli army force stationed at the border.
Israeli media said an Israeli soldier was injured in the attack from unknown militants in Gaza.
Over the past few weeks, Israel carried out multiple airstrikes on military posts in the Gaza Strip, while Palestinian militants fired barrages of rockets from the coastal enclave into Israel.
Last Friday, four Palestinians, including three Hamas militants, and an Israeli soldier, were killed in one of the most violent cross-fires between the two sides since Israel's last war on Gaza in the summer of 2014.
Israeli forces have killed at least 148 Palestinians and wounded more than 16,000 others since March 30, the first day of the ongoing Palestinian "Great March of Return" rally, according to the health ministry.
Around half of the injured were shot by live ammunition, and many of them are still in critical condition, the ministry said.
The anti-Israel rally demands the return of Palestinian refugees, who were forced to leave their homes during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, and the lift of the blockade Israel has imposed on Gaza since 2007.
