- Two rockets were fired from Gaza toward southern Israel.
- Israeli interceptor missiles were fired into the sky above Ashkelon.
- Israeli incursion in West Bank resulted in the highest single death toll in years.
On Friday, Palestinian armed groups launched two rockets from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel. The rockets were shot down by missile defenses, and Israel immediately attacked Gaza.
The Israeli incursion in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, which resulted in the highest single death toll in years of combat, preceded the cross-border shooting.
In Israeli villages close to the Gaza border, the nocturnal rocket attacks set out sirens that alerted locals to seek shelter. No injuries were mentioned in the reports.
Israeli interceptor missiles were seen being fired into the night sky above the city of Ashkelon, which is located approximately 12 kilometers (7 miles) north of Gaza, which is governed by the Islamist militant organization Hamas, on Israel’s Channel 12.
Israel’s military acknowledged carrying out strikes in Gaza a short while later. Israeli aircraft apparently struck a Hamas training site, according to Palestinian witnesses. There were no reported injuries.
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After Israeli commandos raided the volatile town of Jenin and murdered seven gunmen and two civilians, tensions erupted. Although there was no official claim for the missile launch, Hamas and the more modest extremist organization Islamic Jihad threatened a reaction.
Following the bloodshed in Jenin, the Palestinian Authority said that it would no longer coordinate security with Israel, a partnership that is generally recognized for maintaining peace in the West Bank and averting attacks on Israel. In opposition, it has repeatedly put the partnership on hold.
Despite ordering security forces to be on alert, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel was not aiming to aggravate the situation.
In an effort to prevent the conflict in Jenin, one of the West Bank settlements that have experienced increased Israeli military activity, from escalating into a larger conflict, US, UN, and Arab officials engaged with Israel and Palestinian factions.
Since a slew of deadly Palestinian attacks on Israeli streets in March and April of last year, violence has increased. Palestinian support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which reject cohabitation with Israel and where Netanyahu’s new hard-right government includes MPs hostile to Palestinian independence, has increased as a result of the accompanying diplomatic impasse.
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