IAF jets carried out an airstrike in Gaza overnight in response to a bomb placed along the border fence during mass protests over the past two Fridays in the Gaza Strip, which detonated close to military engineering vehicles.

In response to the airstrike, a terrorist cell directed machine gun fire at the aircraft without causing damage. The shots triggered two Code Red alert sirens in the Negev and Sdot Negev Regional Councils. The IDF in response attacked the terrorist cell.

An IDF spokesperson said the jets had targeted “a compound belonging to a Hamas terrorist organization.“

“ The IDF considers the Hamas terrorist organization responsible for any terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip and will act decisively against any attempt to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians or IDF forces acting in their defense,” the IDF said in a statement.

Palestinian sources reported that one member of the cell was killed and another injured.

The improvised explosive device (IED) detonated on Wednesday morning adjacent to military engineering vehicles on the western side of the Israel-Gaza border fence during a routine patrol, was the last in a string of incidents as tension escalated in recent weeks on the Gaza border in which 29 Palestinians were killed.