Israeli jets bombarded Gaza overnight in retaliation for two rockets fired by Palestinian militants, further escalating tensions after one of the worst days of violence in the occupied West Bank in years. The military announced it was targeting what it claims was an underground rocket manufacturing facility at the Maghazi refugee camp in the center of the Strip. The site was located in an area surrounded by residential buildings and 180 meters from a warehouse managed by UNRWA, the UN agency dealing with Palestinian refugees.
The rockets fired overnight from Gaza caused alarm in Israeli communities near the southern coastline border controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, but no casualties were reported. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, and its spokesman, Tarek al-Salmi, said in a statement quoted in the media, that it was a “warning” intended to explain to Israel that armed groups in Gaza were following imminent developments in the West Bank. and in Jerusalem. “The fetus and the people of Jerusalem know they can count on a solid sword,” he said.
At least two civilians, including nine Palestinians, including armed militants, and a 60-year-old woman, were killed in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank yesterday. The United Nations has not recorded such a high number of deaths in a single Israeli operation in the West Bank since 2005, when it began counting the victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Raising the Palestinian death toll to at least 30 by 2023 alone.
The Palestinian Authority spoke of a “massacre” and announced the end of security cooperation with Israel for the first time since 2020. The US State Department expressed regret over the decision and said, “It is very important that the parties continue and even deepen their coordination.” on security issues”. According to Washington, the head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, will visit Israel and the West Bank on Monday and Tuesday to insist on the “urgent need for de-escalation measures.”
Normalizing relations with Israel in 2020, the UAE “condemned the attack by Israeli forces” and called the United Nations Security Council an “urgent” meeting. Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila accused Israeli forces of firing tear gas at the children’s ward of a Jenin hospital during their operation, but the army denied this. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel is “not seeking to escalate tensions” but is preparing for “all scenarios”.
The months of escalating violence following a series of deadly attacks in Israel last year have raised fears that the conflict could spiral out of control, sparking a wider conflict between Palestinians and Israel. Worse still, Netanyahu’s re-emergence as head of arguably the most right-wing and extremist government in Israeli history. Occupying the West Bank since 1967, the Israeli army conducts almost daily operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly in Jenin and Nablus (northern) areas, strongholds of Palestinian armed groups.
Dating back to 1953, Jenin camp hosts more than 23,000 refugees, according to UNRWA. In May 2022, Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist from Al Jazeera, was killed while following an Israeli raid.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
