Israel launches airstrikes on Gaza Strip

ISTANBUL (AA/AFP) – Israel on Thursday launched airstrikes on targets in the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired from the territory into Israel, according to local media based on Israeli statements.

Citing the army Spokesperson Unit, the Jerusalem Post daily reported that the Israeli army hit a facility for weapons manufacturing belonging to Palestinian group Hamas early Thursday.

Six rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, and most of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system on Wednesday, it added.

Israeli forces raided Nablus in the northern West Bank from several points earlier Wednesday.

Surrounding a house in the historic Old City, the soldiers used live bullets against Palestinians protesting the raid, killing at least 11 civilians, including a child, and injuring more than 100.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Wednesday that Israeli forces have killed 62 Palestinians since the start of the year.

Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rockets after it called on “resistance forces” to respond to the “major crime” in Nablus.

Two hours later, the Israeli military carried out air strikes on multiple targets in Gaza, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.

The missiles targeted “a weapons factory” and a “military camp”, both run by Hamas, the army said in a statement.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres appealed for calm, warning that tensions in the West Bank had reached their most dangerous level in years.

“Our immediate priority must be to prevent further escalation, reduce tensions and restore calm,” the UN chief said.

“The situation in the occupied Palestinian territory is at its most combustible in years,” he added, pointing to “sky high” tensions and the stalled peace process.

Wednesday’s death toll was the highest since the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, ended in 2005, surpassing that of an Israeli raid last month in Jenin, another flashpoint city in the West Bank.

Condemning the acts of violence committed against civilians, France reiterated Israel’s obligation to respect international humanitarian law.

Neighbouring Jordan said it would “work intensely with all parties to achieve” calm.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and separately with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, calling on both to “restore calm”.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War of 1967.

Last year was the deadliest year in the territory since the United Nations started tracking casualties in 2005.