Israel launches airstrike in Gaza after rocket fire

GAZA CITY, Palestine

An Israeli warplane carried out an airstrike in the Gaza Strip following a rocket fire, according to the Israeli military on Saturday.

In a statement, a military spokesman said the attack targeted a Hamas post in the southern Gaza Strip after a rocket was fired from the Palestinian territory into southern Israel.

No injuries were reported.

The Israeli raid came hours after a Palestinian youth was killed and six others were injured by Israeli army fire during anti-occupation protests along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone on Friday.

Demonstrators demand the right to return to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel’s 12-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has gutted the coastal enclave’s economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.

Since the rallies began on March 30, more than 250 Palestinians have been martyred -- and thousands more injured -- by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone.