- Israel launched airstrikes against alleged weapons storage and manufacturing facilities in Gaza.
- After a rocket firing from the coastal enclave.
- Resulting in 11 deaths and 500 injuries.
Israel said it began airstrikes against alleged weapons storage and manufacturing facilities in Gaza, after a rocket firing from the coastal enclave on Thursday.
In a statement, the IDF said “fighter jets struck a weapons manufacturing site” in central Gaza owned by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza.
“In parallel, a military compound belonging to the Hamas Terrorist Organization in the northern Gaza Strip which also was used as a naval weapons storage warehouse was struck,” the statement said.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) earlier on Thursday said that five rockets fired from Gaza targeting Israeli territory, including the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, were intercepted and another missile fell in a wide open space.
As many as 11 Palestinians were killed and at least 500 others were hurt in an Israeli military attack
on Nablus on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian sources on Thursday. According to the two militant factions, two commanders of Islamic Jihad and a member of Hamas were among the dead targeted in the Nablus operation.
“Our teams dealt with 488 injuries during the occupation forces’ invasion into Nablus, including 103 injuries of live bullets taken to hospitals in Nablus,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The other injuries included tear gas inhalation and shrapnel wounds, they said. The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the numbers.
The IDF claimed it obtained information on the location of the suspects, which allowed it to conduct the four-hour-long operation in Nablus during the day.
The IDF said that they posed an immediate threat and were to blame for the killing of an Israeli soldier.
The United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said late Wednesday he was “appalled by the loss of civilian lives” in the raid.
“I am deeply disturbed by the continuing cycle of violence,” Tor Wennesland said in a statement. “I urge all sides to refrain from steps that could further enflame an already volatile situation.”
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