JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to "respond strongly" to any attack from the blockaded Gaza Strip.
"We will respond with force every time there is an attempt to disturb the quiet that was attained in the south after Operation Protective Edge," Netanyahu said in a statement.
The threat came shortly after the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said that one of its fighters in the southern Gaza Strip had been killed by Israeli artillery.
In a brief statement, the Brigades said that Tayseer al-Sameeri had been killed in the town of Al-Qararah east of Khan Younis.
Israel 'playing with fire': Hamas' military wing
The Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Palestinian faction Hamas, on Wednesday said Israel is playing with fire over its "dangerous" violations of the Gaza cease-fire.
In a statement, the brigades said that Israel had crossed all "red lines" by targeting one of its fighters in southern Gaza Strip earlier on Wednesday.
"Israel is playing with fire," the brigades said, going on to hold the self-proclaimed Jewish state responsible for the consequences of what it described as its "crimes" against the Palestinian people.
The brigades said earlier in the day that one of its fighters in the southern Gaza Strip had been killed by Israeli artillery.
In a brief statement, the Brigades said that Tayseer al-Sameeri had been killed in the town of Al-Qararah east of Khan Younis.
Medical sources told The Anadolu Agency that al-Sameeri had been killed by Israeli artillery that had targeted farmland in the area.
On July 7, Israel began a devastating, weeks-long military onslaught on the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from the Hamas-run coastal enclave.
By the time the offensive ended on August 26 – more than 50 days later – at least 2,160 Gazans had been killed, mostly civilians, and some 11,000 injured.
At least 73 Israelis – 68 soldiers and five civilians – were also killed during the seven-week conflict.
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