Israel Strikes Gaza After Military Intercepted Rocket From Palestinian Territory

The Israeli army said the airstrikes targeted a rocket production workshop for the militant Hamas group, which controls Gaza.

Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave early on February 2, 2023. ( Image Source :AFP )

New Delhi: Israeli fighter jets on Thursday carried out a series of airstrikes on facilities belonging to militant groups along the Gaza Strip, news agency IANS reported. The strikes were in response to the firing of rockets at southern Israel.

Israeli army drones and fighter jets were heard buzzing in the air, and several explosions were heard in the central Gaza Strip, witnesses told Xinhua news agency. They also said that over 14 missiles were fired at a military post that belongs to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant groups.

However, Palestinian medical sources said that no injuries were reported during the strikes.

The Israeli army confirmed in a statement that it was “striking in the Gaza Strip,” adding that the strikes came “in response to the rocket launch from the Gaza Strip into Israel earlier” on Wednesday.

They further said that fighter jets had “struck a production site for raw chemical material production, preservation and storage along with a weapon manufacturing site” belonging to Hamas.

The unrest comes after cross-border rocket fire from the Gaza Strip last week in retaliation to a deadly Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, and a shooting attack outside a synagogue at a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem that killed seven civilians.

Gaza is densely populated with 2.3 million people, it has been under an Israeli blockade since Hamas took power in 2007.

The escalating violence has affected much of the West Bank. According to the United Nations, 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2006.

The tensions further aggravated since Israel's most right-wing government, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, took office in December 2022.