Israeli strikes target Hamas in Lebanon and Gaza.
In retaliation for rocket assaults that it said were carried out by Hamas, the Israeli military carried out strikes early on Friday morning in both Lebanon and Gaza.
JERUSALEM: As tensions grew following police raids this week on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Israel’s military struck locations in Lebanon and Gaza early on Friday in retribution for rocket launches it blamed on Hamas.
When Israel claimed that its planes targeted 10 targets, including Hamas tunnels and weapons manufacture and research centres, which govern the blockaded southern coastal strip, loud explosions shook several parts of Gaza.
The military announced at 4 a.m. that it had also targeted three Hamas infrastructure targets in southern Lebanon, where locals in the Rashidiyeh refugee camp near Tyre reported hearing three huge explosions.
Hamas declared, “We vehemently condemn the brazen Israeli attack on Lebanon in the area of Tyre at daybreak today.
According to two Lebanese security officials, the attack targeted a small building on fields close to where the prior rocket launches had taken place.
According to Reuters witnesses, the hit looked to have created a sizable crater on fields in the south.
There were none, according to a Civil Defense worker from Lebanon who was on the site early on Friday.
Israeli officials blamed Hamas for the rocket assaults that came from Lebanon and targeted northern Israeli communities. According to the military, 25 of the 34 rockets fired from Lebanon were shot down by air defense systems. It was the largest such assault since Israel and the highly armed Hezbollah militia engaged in combat in 2006.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, declared at a security cabinet meeting that Israel’s response, both tonight and afterwards, “will exact a high price from our adversaries.”
Salvoes of rockets were apparently fired in retaliation as Israeli planes hit targets in Gaza, while sirens rang in Israeli villages and communities along the border. No significant injuries, however, were reported, and just one rocket managed to damage a home in the southern town of Sderot.
During the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, which this year falls around the Jewish Passover holiday, Israeli police raids at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem sparked an increasing conflict.
In a statement, Hamas claimed that it “holds the Israeli occupation entirely accountable for the grave escalation and the brazen attack on the Gaza Strip and for the consequences that would bring into the area.”
Najib Mikati, the prime minister of Lebanon, condemned any military activities from its territory that endangered stability in a statement, but Hezbollah did not immediately respond. Before to the missile launch on Thursday, top Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine warned that any attack on Al-Aqsa “would inflame the whole area.”
The UN peacekeeping operation in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said that it had spoken with the parties and that both had stated that they did not want war. But, UNIFIL claimed that the situation was at risk of escalating and encouraged all parties to cease their current course of action.
According to an Israeli military spokeswoman, the Israeli operation is currently complete. Nobody wants an escalation at this time, he told the media. At this point, I believe that silence will be met with quiet, at least for the foreseeable future.
The US denounces rocket strikes.
The US State Department criticized the firing of missiles from Lebanon and earlier Gaza airstrikes and asserted Israel’s right to self-defense.
But, it also voiced worry about the events that took place at the Al-Aqsa mosque, where Israeli police were seen abusing worshipers during operations that, according to authorities, were intended to “dislodge groups of young men who had barricaded themselves within the mosque.”
Islam’s third holiest location is the Al-Aqsa complex in Jerusalem’s Old City, where hundreds of thousands of people worship every day during Ramadan. The two biblical Jewish temples were located on what Jews refer to as Temple Mount, making it the holiest place in Judaism.
It has long been a source of conflict. Conflicts there in 2021 contributed to the start of Israel and Gaza’s 10-day conflict.
The Israeli police’s actions have sparked considerable indignation among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, as well as criticism from all around the Arab world.
Police said that there were disruptions late on Thursday in a number of Arab cities inside Israel, including Umm el-Fahem, Sakhnin, and Nazareth.
smoke plumes
The deteriorating security situation complicates matters even more for Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist administration, which has already had to deal with widespread opposition to its now-suspended plans to limit the Supreme Court’s authority.
Yet, following the rocket assault, opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government could rely on cross-party support, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated Israelis supported the security services.
“We will continue to take action against them wherever and wherever it is required, regardless of the internal discussion in Israel. Without exception, we are all in agreement on this, “added Netanyahu.
Large plumes of smoke were seen rising over the northern Israeli border town of Shlomi following the rocket strike on Thursday, and there were damaged vehicles all over the streets. The northern airports in Haifa and Rosh Pina have been shut down, according to the Israel Airports Authority.
Speaking from a reinforced room in her home in Shlomi, Liat Berkovitch Kravitz said to Israel’s Channel 12 news, “I’m shaking, I’m in shock.” I felt like something had burst within the room when I heard the explosion.
According to the Israeli military, mortar rounds were also fired over the border.
After a year of increasing Israeli-Palestinian violence, the UN Security Council met behind closed doors to examine the problem amid worries that it would worsen.
Robert Wood, the deputy ambassador of the United States to the UN, told reporters as he arrived to the meeting: “It’s going to be crucial for everyone to do what they can to reduce tensions.”
The incident on Thursday came after several rocket launches from Gaza toward Israel, the majority of which were stopped. In response to the launches, Israel carried out airstrikes on Hamas-affiliated targets, which it views accountable for any assaults launched from the blockaded coastal area.
Muhammad Al-Braim, a representative of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees, spoke from Gaza and hailed the rocket attacks from Lebanon that he connected to the Al-Aqsa events but did not take credit for.
No Arab or Muslim, he claimed, “would remain mute while (Al-Aqsa) is being assaulted in such a violent and barbaric fashion” without the aggressor being made to pay for its aggression.
