Israeli warplanes strike Gaza
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories (AFP):
Israeli warplanes struck Gaza on Thursday, drawing retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian resistance groups.
Israel claimed the pre-dawn strikes were in “response to an earlier rocket launch.” Israel said it targeted military training camps used by Hamas.
“(Hamas) will face the consequences of the security violations against Israel,” the army said on Twitter.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem called the Israeli strikes “a continuation of the cycle of aggression against the Palestinian people”.
He accused Israel of “opening the door to escalation on the ground”.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel stood ready to respond to any attack.
“Every attempt to harm our citizens will be met with the full force of the IDF.”
During talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both sides to prevent further bloodshed.
He expressed sorrow for “innocent” Palestinians killed in months of spiralling violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, warning that the Palestinian people faced “a shrinking horizon of hope”.
Increasing attacks by Israel
The US top diplomat’s visit came after a deadly upsurge in raids, demolitions and attacks by the Israeli Defense Force in the West Bank last week.
On January 29, Israel conducted the deadliest army raid in years in the West Bank, killing 10 Palestinians. A day later, a Palestinian shot dead seven people outside a synagogue in an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel said its deadly raid on Jenin refugee camp targeted fighters from the resistance group Islamic Jihad. An 11th Palestinian was killed elsewhere in the West Bank that day.
Israel has killed 35 Palestinians so far this year. In retaliation, six Israelis have been killed.
Last year was the deadliest in the West Bank since the United Nations started tracking fatalities in the territory in 2005.
Some 235 people died in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last year, with nearly 90 percent of the deaths on the Palestinian side.
The Palestinian governor of Jericho on Wednesday accused Israel of putting the town under “siege” after a Saturday shooting at a restaurant.
“This is the fifth day of the siege on Jericho,” governor Jihad Abu al-Assal said.
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