GAZA CITY: Explosions light up the night sky above buildings in Gaza City as Zionist forces shell the Palestinian enclave early yesterday. - AFP

GAZA CITY: Zionist warplanes bombed Gaza yesterday after clashes between its troops and Palestinian protesters left dozens injured, including a Zionist border policeman and a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who were both critically wounded. The Zionist military said it carried out air strikes against four sites and that it had reinforced its Gaza division with additional troops.

The escalation came exactly three months since Zionist entity and the Hamas reached a truce following their deadliest fighting in years. Zionist troops fired at Palestinian protesters who gathered near the Gaza border wall, the army and Palestinian witnesses said. A Palestinian gunman fired at Zionist troops through an opening in the wall and crowds of young protesters hurled explosives over the barrier and tried to scale it. The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said the injured included a 13-year-old boy left in a critical condition after being hit in the head.

"Forty-one civilians were wounded with various injuries," the ministry said in a statement, with Hamas saying "thousands" of protesters had taken part. The Zionist border police said a 21-year-old sniper in its undercover unit was critically wounded when he was shot by a Palestinian protester. "His condition is critical and there is a risk to his life," it said of the wounded officer.

Zionist police commissioner Kobi Shabtai in a statement vowed the force would "continue to act firmly and with all our might against those who want to harm us." The entity's Defense Minister Benny Gantz had warned that "these are definitely extremely serious events that will have a response". Shortly after his comments, the Zionist air force said on Twitter that its "fighter jets struck four weapons manufacturing and storage sites belonging to the Hamas organization".

There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the strikes. Hamas had called a protest Saturday to mark the burning 52 years ago of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. "Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line, and any attack on it will be met with valiant resistance from our people," the movement said in a statement. Late Saturday, Hamas and other groups in Gaza issued a joint statement in which they "saluted the heroic youth" who clashed with Jewish forces.

The violence is some of the worst since the May 21 ceasefire came into force. Over 11 days in May, Zionist forces pounded Gaza with air strikes. Hamas said it took action after Zionist security forces stormed Al-Aqsa in May. Reconstruction in Gaza has stalled since the ceasefire, in part because of a crippling blockade the Zionist regime has maintained on the enclave since Hamas seized power in 2007.

On Thursday, Zionists announced it would allow funds from Qatar to reach impoverished Palestinians in Gaza. Other restrictions remain. The ceasefire Egypt brokered between Hamas and Zionists has largely held, although there have been flare-ups. On Monday Zionist entity said its "Iron Dome" missile defense system intercepted a rocket fired by militants in Gaza into the Jewish state, the first time since the recent battle. That came after four Palestinians were killed in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. - AFP