israel launched bombs into the Gaza Strip today, the day after its forces killed 11 people during a military raid in the West Bank, as thousands of Palestinians took part in a general strike.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claimed that the targets were a weapons-manufacturing site and a military compound owned by the Hamas movement, which governs the beseiged coastal enclave. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
According to Israel’s air defence the terror strike was in retaliation for the firing of six rockets into its territory, with one falling into an open area and five being intercepted.
Responsibility for the attack was not immediately claimed by any Palestinian militant group.
Gazans began their day by waking up to the sound of sirens and a pillar of black smoke.
One of the targeted sites was located by a mosque, a medical clinic and a school.
Across the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, Palestinians took part in a general strike in protest at the terror Israeli raid the day before. Schools, universities and shops remained closed.
As well as killing 11 people, the attack on the West Bank city of Nablus left 102 wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, making it one of the bloodiest attacks in nearly a year.
A 16-year-old boy was among the dead and some 82 of the injured had wounds from live ammunition.
In one tragic case, a medic pronounced a man dead, only to notice that the lifeless patient was his father.
Video footage that went viral shows two unarmed men running away before being gunned down.
A funeral parade took place in Nablus today, with thousands of people taking part.
Wednesday’s four-hour operation left large-scale damage to the centuries-old Nablus marketplace.
In the Old City, shops were covered in bullet holes and the cement was stained with blood.
The IDF and Israel Security Agency said in a joint statement that the raid had targeted those “planning attacks in the immediate future,” claiming that they had “neutralised” three militants.
Israel’s new far-right government, which took office at the end of December, has promised to take an even tougher line against Palestinians and increase the legalisation of unauthorised Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting: “We have a clear policy: to strike terror powerfully and to deepen our roots in our land.”
