Above: Israeli Airstrike

According to Hamas sources, an Israeli airstrike hammered down a Hamas base in Gaza, killing six militants and injuring ten more.

Israel Defense Forces confirmed they carried out the airstrike. This was not the first time in recent days that such an attack was made.

The move comes a day after a suicide bomber from Gaza attacked a crowded Israeli shopping mall. The bombing killed three and wounded several other civilians. The attack in Dimona was the first suicide bombing in Israel in a span of over a year. The military wings of Palestinian militant groups Islamic Jihad and Fatah claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. According to intelligence reports, two Palestinians left Gaza across the recently breached border with Egypt and then entered Israel to carry out the suicide mission.

Hours later, an Israeli airstrike hit a chief leader of the Popular Resistance Committee’s militant wing – whom the Israelis blamed for helping bring down the securing wall between Gaza and Egypt. In an interview with CNN, Amr Qarmout described a week-long covert mission by Palestinian militants to bring down the border wall between Gaza and Egypt. The strike in Beit Lahya killed Qarmout.

Egypt’s security forces began closing off a section of its border with Gaza last February 3. Several days after, Palestinians started blasting holes in the said wall. Egypt has been under pressure by Israel and the United States to reseal the Rafah border to prevent the free flow of terrorists and weapons into Hamas-controlled Gaza.