The attack came in response to several rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave
Smoke and fire rise from an explosion caused by an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City early Wednesday, July 5, 2023 © AP / Adel Hana
Israel has carried out airstrikes on several alleged Hamas military sites in the Gaza Strip, claiming the mission was a response to rockets fired from the area early Wednesday morning.
“Fighter jets recently attacked an underground site for the production of weapons that is used by the chemistry department of the terrorist organization Hamas and a site for the production of raw materials for the organization’s rockets,” the IDF said in a tweet around 5:30am.
The military said that the attack was carried out in response to the launch of rockets from the Gaza Strip, adding that Hamas bears responsibility for everything that is happening in the Palestinian territory under its control, and “is the one who will pay for the security violations against the State of Israel.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the Palestinian side, and the IDF offered no additional details about the targets it had struck.
Air raid sirens blared across the southern Israeli city of Sderot and other nearby towns shortly after 1am Wednesday morning. The IDF claimed that all five incoming projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, causing no damage or injuries on the ground. No group claimed responsibility for the rocket launch.
The flare-up with another Palestinian territory comes amid a reported pullback of Israeli troops from the West Bank city of Jenin, following a major two-day “anti-terrorist” operation. While the Palestinian nationalist organization that controls Gaza somewhat distanced itself from the events in West Bank, several Hamas officials had urged young men to resist by “any means possible,” and even justified a car-ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday as a “heroic” and “legitimate self-defense.”
