Palestinian fighters in Gaza fire rockets at southern Israel. At the same time, Israeli aircraft targeted a compound linked to Hamas in the coastal area in the early hours of Thursday after shelling in the occupied West Bank. The conflict between Israel and Palestine in the West Bank has increased in recent times. Since the beginning of this year, several Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire. At the same time, 11 people died in the Palestinian attack.
The violence comes within weeks of Israel’s new government coming to power, which has promised to take a tougher stance against Palestinians. At the same time, the government has pledged that it will accelerate the construction of settlements on the land that Palestine sees as its future state.
Israel is retaliating and police have increased security in sensitive areas. On Thursday, police said a security guard at the entrance to a West Bank settlement shot a woman who they said tried to stab the guard. The condition of the woman is not known at this time.
Israel’s military said Palestinian fighters fired six rockets from the Gaza Strip into the country’s south in the early hours of Thursday. The army said air defense systems downed five rockets that were fired towards the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot. A rocket fell in the open field. Israeli aircraft then struck several targets in northern and central Gaza, including an arms manufacturing facility and compounds linked to the ruling Hamas group in Gaza. There is no information about the injured in Israel or Gaza.
Health officials said 11 people were killed in an Israeli attack on Nablus on Wednesday. Three of these people were above 60 years of age and one was also a 16-year-old boy. Many people got injured.
It was one of the bloodiest clashes in nearly a year of fighting in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and further violence is expected to escalate. Israeli police officers said they were on high alert, while the Hamas group in Gaza said its patience was “running out.” Another militant group, Islamic Jihad, vowed to retaliate.