Israeli airstrike targets Hamas site in Gaza after rocket fired
The Hindu
The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted a rocket production workshop for the militant Hamas group, which controls Gaza.
Israeli aircraft carried out several raids at a militant site in the Gaza Strip early on Thursday, the Israeli military said, hours after Palestinian militants fired a rocket into Israel's south, raising already heightened tensions for the country’s new ultranationalist government.
The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted a rocket production workshop for the militant Hamas group, which controls Gaza. It said the site contained raw chemical materials.
There were no reports of casualties.
Late Wednesday, Israeli air defenses intercepted a rocket from Gaza, the army said. Last week, Gaza militants and Israel broke months of cross-border calm by exchanging rockets and airstrikes after Israel killed 10 Palestinians in a military operation in the West Bank.
In Israel, local residents reported hearing explosions. Israel’s rescue service said it received no reports of injuries except for a 50-year-old woman who slipped and fell while running to a shelter.
The action came after Hamas threatened Israel over the combative stance of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has promised harsh treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. From the occupied West Bank to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, many Palestinians revere prisoners as heroes for the Palestinian cause.
Ben-Gvir said the new rocket fire from Gaza won’t stop him from implementing his punitive policies against Palestinian detainees. He called for an urgent Security Cabinet meeting to discuss a response.
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