Israeli planes bomb Gaza as tensions escalate

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Overnight, Israeli jets bombed Gaza in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian coastal enclave, amid a sharp escalation in tensions following a deadly Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.

Israel said its armed forces bombed a military base and underground missile manufacturing site run by Hamas, the armed group that has controlled the besieged Gaza Strip since 2007.

It added that the missiles that reached Israel were intercepted or landed on open ground. No injuries were reported on either side.

The nighttime exchange of fire in Gaza followed the worst day of violence in the West Bank in years, after Israeli special forces on Thursday killed at least nine Palestinians, including an elderly woman, during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp targeting Palestinian Islamist activists. Strive or Struggle.

Islamic Jihad later said it was responsible for Thursday night’s rocket fire.

The escalation in violence, which followed months of nightly clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian militants, has exacerbated long-standing fears that the security situation in the West Bank – which makes up the bulk of Palestinian territory but has since been occupied by Israel – is worsening. 1967 – It Could Get Out of Control.

Last year was the deadliest for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005, according to the United Nations, as Israeli forces killed 151 Palestinians in the strip after escalating their activities there following a series of attacks by Palestinians last spring that killed 31 Israelis in 2022.

The clash is the first major clash since Benjamin Netanyahu’s new, hard-line government, widely seen as the most right-wing in Israel’s history, took power in December, and ultra-nationalists in security-sensitive positions have vowed to take a tougher line against the Palestinians.

In the aftermath of the raid in Jenin, which Israel said was carried out to thwart an imminent threat, the Palestinian Authority said it halted its security cooperation with Israel, which helps Israeli security forces prevent attacks.

The Palestinian Authority has rescinded such cooperation before, most recently in 2020 when Netanyahu’s previous government considered a plan to annex parts of the West Bank. Cooperation resumed after Israel dropped the plan.

Michael Milstein, chair of the Palestine Studies Forum at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center, said that although the security cooperation has been beneficial to Israel, the symbolic effect of canceling it may end up being more important than the practical consequences.

My main fear is people [lower down] in the Palestinian Authority security forces. . . They will understand this as a green light to promote violent steps against Israel, they will understand it [it as meaning] We have entered a new context. . . And that they were given permission to return to the fierce struggle.

“Even one or two cases of members of the Palestinian security forces promoting terrorist attacks could lead to a very rapid and very severe escalation, which no side really wants.”

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The US administration warned the Palestinian Authority to stop coordination, with Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, saying during a briefing with reporters that it is not “the right step to take at this moment.”

“Beyond a step back on security coordination, we think it’s very important that the parties maintain – and if anything, deepen – security coordination,” she said, adding that US officials had been “working on the phones” since Thursday morning. to try to calm the situation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to travel to Israel and the West Bank next week as part of a pre-planned visit to the region. CIA chief William Burns also visited on Friday.

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