Israel closes Gaza border crossings after 'rocket' strikes
Israel has closed its border crossing into Gaza after what it said were 'rockets' fired from the strip over the course of the past week. The closure comes a day after Israel was condemned as a 'terror state' at an OIC summit chaired by Turkey.
The Kerem Shalom border crossing which is used to deliver food and basic supplies into the area between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Israel announced the closure of its Gaza border crossings on Thursday in response to what it says has been daily rocket fire from the enclave over the past week after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Israel's military said its aircraft had struck three facilities belonging to Hamas, the political faction that controls the Gaza Strip, before dawn on Thursday after the latest incidents.
It said it targeted training camps and weapons storage compounds. Hamas usually evacuates such facilities when border tensions spike.
Israel claimed that two of the rockets fired by militants were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system and a third exploded in an open area.
There were no reports of casualties on either side of the frontier.
The military said in a statement that "due to the security events and in accordance with security assessments" Kerem Shalom crossing – the main passage point for goods entering the Gaza Strip, and the Erez pedestrian crossing – would be shut as of Thursday. It did not say how long the closure would last.
According to Israel, some 15 rockets have been fired into the south of the country since Trump's December 6 announcement. It says none of the projectiles caused serious injury or damage.
In the wake of widespread Palestinian and international anger over Trump's move on Jerusalem, Hamas called for an intifada against the occupying force.
Since then four Palestinians have died in clashes with Israeli forces or Israeli air strikes.
Israel has acknowledged that Hamas is not responsible for the rocket fire. But cabinet minister Tzachi Hanegbi called on Hamas to rein in militants from "breakaway groups" or it would "find itself in a situation where it has to contend" with the Israeli military.
Israel is a 'terror state'
In Istanbul on Wednesday, a summit of more than 50 Muslim countries condemned Trump's move and called on the world to recognise East Jerusalem, captured by Israel along with the West Bank in a 1967 war, as the capital of Palestine.
Other than Israel, the international community has universally condemned the US move.
Leading a chorus of contempt at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israel a "terror state," and said Trump's move was legitimising Israel's "terror acts."
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