ISRAELI warplanes pummelled several locations in the besieged Gaza Strip again this morning as protests against US President Donald Trump’s Middle East “peace plan” continued across the region.

No casualties were reported in the early dawn bombing raid, the second such assault this week.

A correspondent for the Palestinian Wafa news agency said that an Israeli attack helicopter fired at least one missile at open land south east of Deir al-Balah.

In another attack, helicopters also fired missiles at a post west of Khan Younes, the site of a bombing raid earlier this week.

Tel Aviv claimed that the operations were a response to balloons strapped with explosives being sent from Gaza into southern Israel.

Protests continued to rage across the occupied territories as President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Trump’s plan with “a thousand noes.”

A general strike gripped the Gaza Strip starting on Wednesday as Mr Abbas described the deal as “dead in the water.”

His envoy to the UN security council, Riyad Mansour, said a resolution calling on it to reject Trump’s deal would be presented in the next two weeks. 

“We will try our best with our friends to have the strongest possible draft resolution and to receive the strongest and largest possible voting in favour of that resolution,” he said.