The air raid came in response to shelling by Palestinian militants, the Israel Defense Forces have reported
Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave early on February 23, 2023. © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
Israel has conducted air strikes against Palestinian militants in Gaza in what it calls retaliation for rocket fire from the enclave. The aerial attack followed an Israeli military raid in the West Bank on Wednesday that claimed 11 lives.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “In response to the rockets fired from Gaza, IAF fighter jets struck both a weapons manufacturing site and military compound belonging to the Hamas Terrorist Organization, located in central and northern Gaza.”
Israeli military officials also accused the militant group of deliberately placing its facilities near civilian infrastructure.
In response to the rockets fired from Gaza, IAF fighter jets struck both a weapons manufacturing site and military compound belonging to the Hamas Terrorist Organization, located in central and northern Gaza.1/3 pic.twitter.com/625A9zCzn1
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) February 23, 2023
Earlier the same day, the IDF reported that a total of six rockets had been fired from Gaza toward Israeli territory, with five of them having been intercepted and the other landing in an “open area.”
There have been no reports of damage or casualties.
On Wednesday, the IDF carried out a raid in the city of Nablus in the West Bank, targeting three militants. However, eight civilians, including a 72-year-old man and a teenager, also lost their lives as a result of the operation.
According to media reports, Israeli troops opened live fire on Palestinians protesting against the raid. The Guardian quoted unnamed Palestinian officials as saying that at least 103 people had sustained injuries.
Ziad al-Nakhala, head of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad militant group, branded the raid a “major crime” which the “resistance must respond to.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Wednesday that the Israeli military has killed 62 Palestinians since the start of the year.
