Israeli air strikes hit blockaded Gaza

Israel launched air strikes early on Saturday at several places in Gaza in response to over a dozen rockets it said were fired toward the country.

Fighter jets and helicopters pounded Gaza for more than two hours, including Hamas sites, the Israeli army said in a press release.

The army said on Twitter that 14 rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Israel since late Friday but eight were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defence system.

The air raids damaged Indonesian-built hospital in northern Gaza, reports said.

There have been no deaths from the air strikes, according to Palestinian medical sources in Gaza.

The12-year Israeli blockade of the Gaza is making the enclave unlivable for its two million residents. 

TRT World's Sarah Balter has more. 

Israeli violence

The latest Israeli violence come after five Palestinians were killed and 170 others wounded by Israeli troops during demonstrations on Friday along the Gaza-Israel buffer zone, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Ashraf al Qidra, spokesman for Gaza's health ministry, said Mohammed al Nabi, a 27-year-old Palestinian was shot in the head by Israeli snipers.

Hundreds of Palestinians had converged along the zone as part of ongoing demonstrations against Israel’s decades-long occupation.

Protesters are demanding the right of 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.

More than 200 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more wounded by Israeli troops deployed near the buffer zone since such rallies began on March 30.