Attacks came after Border Police officer was critically injured along with dozens of Palestinians during border riots.

Source: JERUSALEM POST STAFF

The IDF carried out airstrikes within the Gaza Strip on Saturday night after a Border Police officer was critically injured during riots along the border fence.The police officer is 21-year-old St.-Sgt. Bar’el Hadariya Shmueli of Be’er Yaakov, according to Israeli media.

Dozens of Palestinians were injured in the riots, as well.Fighter planes targeted four different sites throughout Gaza which were weapon manufacturing and storage sites, the IDF announced shortly after the attacks.

Israeli aircraft strike Hamas sites in Gaza after border clashes (Video Credit: Reuters)Machine gunfire directed at the Israeli aircraft hit Sderot houses after midnight, causing damage, according to an IDF statement.A 16-year-old Israeli civilian was lightly wounded while running to a bomb shelter, Kan reported.Two companies from the IDF’s officer training base and three teams from the Maglan commando unit have been sent to the Gaza Division, according to Army Radio.

The IDF also reinforced its Iron Dome missile defense unit, according to Israeli media.”The attacks were carried out due to the riots on the border fence, as well as the shooting of the Border Policeman,” the IDF said. “Hamas continues to make Gaza a terror state while exploiting the civilian population. The IDF will continue to respond with force to any terror attempts made by Hamas, and we view Hamas as being responsible for anything that happens in the Gaza Strip,” it said.On Thursday, Hamas and other Palestinian factions urged Palestinians to mark the anniversary of the burning of the pulpit of al-Aqsa by heading there to “defend” it against Israeli “attacks.”