Rockets and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s operation in Nablus

The Israel and armed Palestinian groups from the Gaza Strip exchanged rockets and missiles today, a day after the Israeli army’s deadly raid on the occupied West Bank.

Eleven Palestinians, including a 16-year-old teenager, were killed on Wednesday and more than 80 others were wounded by bullets during an Israeli army raid on Nablus, the bloodiest on record in the West Bank since 2005.

As usual, this nighttime army operation was followed by rockets fired from Gaza at Israel, followed by Israeli airstrikes against the Palestinian enclave, which has been under the control of the Palestinian Hamas movement since 2007.

There have been no reports of casualties at this time.

A little earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his strong concern about the situation “in the occupied Palestinian territories” which “is more combustible than it has been in years”.

The EU asked “all sides to work to restore calm and de-escalate tensions”.

“Restoring Calm”

Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed 60 Palestinians (members of armed organizations and civilians, including minors), 10 Israelis (9 civilians, including three minors, and a police officer), as well as a Ukrainian woman, according to an AFP count. based on statements from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.

“Our immediate priority must be to prevent further escalation, reduce tension and restore calm,” Guterres stressed.

Just before dawn today, several rockets – eight according to Palestinian eyewitnesses, six according to the Israeli military – were fired from the Gaza Strip against Israel.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the rockets, which had called on “the resistance forces” to respond “without hesitation” to the “great crime” committed by the Israeli army in Nablus.

The Israeli military announced that it had intercepted five rockets thanks to its anti-aircraft defense system. It then launched airstrikes against several targets in Gaza. The strikes targeted “a weapons factory” and “a camp” belonging to Hamas.

Yesterday afternoon in Nablus a large crowd, including armed men, attended the funeral of the nine people killed during the Israeli raid.

The tenth person was cremated in the Palestinian refugee camp of Balata. The eleventh dead, aged 66, died in the hospital where he was being treated after inhaling tear gas, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced.

Israel’s military said it conducted an “anti-terrorist operation” in Namlpus during which it “neutralized three wanted suspects who had been involved in armed attacks (in the Gaza Strip) and who were planning other attacks in the near future.”

During the operation, which lasted nearly four hours, Palestinians threw stones and explosive devices at the soldiers, the army added, noting that there were no casualties among its ranks.

At least 82 Palestinians are being treated for gunshot wounds, some of them in critical condition, the Palestinian Ministry of Defense said.

Islamic Jihad said a local commander of its military arm was among the dead. According to the Palestinian armed group “Lion’s Den”, six fighters from various organizations are among the 10 dead.

“Barbaric Energy”

Mustafa Sahin, a resident of the area, heard the explosions and gunfire in the morning. “A large number of soldiers attacked” the center of Nablus, he said, according to AFP and the Athens News Agency.

Israeli forces have for nearly a year increased what they call “anti-terrorist” operations, during which they search for “suspects” in the northern part of the West Bank, mainly in Nablus and Jenin, strongholds of Palestinian armed groups.

On Twitter, Palestinian Minister of Political Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh denounced a “premeditated and barbaric criminal act” and asked the international community to “immediately intervene”.