ISRAEL BOMBS GAZA AS TENSIONS RISE OVER AN ISRAELI RAID ON NABLUS THAT KILLED 11

Thu 23 February 2023:

Israel has bombed the Gaza Strip after Palestinian fighters launched several rockets from the besieged coastal enclave amid tensions over an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus that killed at least 11 Palestinians.

The early-morning attacks sent plumes of black smoke rising over one of the targeted areas north of Gaza City.

lsraeli warplanes launch a series of air strikes on Gaza Strip earlier this morning.#GaZaStrip pic.twitter.com/xGDVSISrFK

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) February 23, 2023

in the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon in Israel.

There were no reports of casualties right away.

Palestinian eyewitnesses claimed to have seen at least eight missiles launch, compared to the Israeli military’s estimate of six.

The sixth missile, according to the Israeli military, landed in an unpopulated area while five of the rockets were intercepted by its air defense system.

🇵🇸 Israel attacks Gaza as tensions rise over an Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Nablus.#Gaza #Palestine #Nablus pic.twitter.com/iNrluosRfD

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) February 23, 2023

No Palestinian organization has publicly taken responsibility for the missile launch on Thursday.

The rocket launches came after the Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad group condemned the Israeli military’s raid in Nablus on Wednesday as a “major crime” that the “resistance must respond to”. Hamas, which governs the coastal enclave, had also issued a warning, with spokesman Abu Obeida saying “the resistance in Gaza is observing the enemy’s escalating crimes against our people in the occupied West Bank”. He added that their “patience is running out”.

The Nablus raid was one of the deadliest Israeli operations in the occupied West Bank since the second Intifada or the Palestinian uprising of 2000-2005. The death toll on Wednesday surpassed that of an Israeli attack last month in the city of Jenin, further north.

Israeli forces kill 10 Palestinians in Nablus raid

Widespread confrontations broke out soon after the army stormed Nablus with dozens of armoured vehicles and special forces at 10am (08:00 GMT).#Nablus #Palestine pic.twitter.com/wWYV2t6vl6

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) February 22, 2023

Among the dead in Nablus were three Palestinian men, ages 72, 66 and 61, and a 16-year-old boy, according to health officials.

At least 100 others were wounded. Some 82 of them were hit by live ammunition, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israel stepped up its military raids, arrests and killings in Palestinian cities and villages in the occupied West Bank from June 2021, following a popular Palestinian uprising known as the “May outburst” that swept Israel and the Palestinian territories it has illegally occupied since 1967. Palestinian civilians confronting the Israeli military during raids and uninvolved bystanders have been killed, as well as fighters in targeted assassinations and during armed clashes.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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