The Israeli military announced an attack on a target in the Gaza Strip hours after it announced it had intercepted rockets launched from the area.
The Israeli Defense Ministry announced an “attack on the Gaza Strip” early this morning, targeting weapons and rocket manufacturing facilities of Hamas, the largest Islamist militant group in Palestine.
Local security sources said two raids hit the training facility of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigade at the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and the southwestern area of Gaza City. Witnesses said that two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory after the airstrike.
There has been no information on casualties and damage to infrastructure after a series of raids by both sides.
The airstrikes were launched by Israel hours after the Israeli military announced it had intercepted a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip. The armed group Hamas and the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad movement, which attacked Israeli territory last week, have not claimed responsibility for the incident.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for restraint by all sides after concluding a visit to the region on January 31, in which he reaffirmed Washington’s support for a two-state option to end the decades-old conflict.
Regional tensions have escalated sharply amid the Israeli military’s operation against “terrorists” in the West Bank and the shooting that left many people dead in Jerusalem last week.
The Israeli army on January 26 launched a raid at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank region, killing 10 people. Observers described it as one of the region’s largest “anti-terrorist” operations since the Intifada wave, a Palestinian movement against Israeli forces occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the period 2000-2005.
A day later, a 21-year-old Palestinian gunman opened fire on a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov settlement in Jerusalem, killing at least seven people and injuring three. The suspect continued to open fire on passersby during his escape before being shot down by Israeli security forces.
The attack occurred during a night vigil and coincided with a day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust during World War II. It was one of the deadliest attacks on Israelis in recent years.