Israel strikes Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation for rocket fire from the Strip

The Israeli Army has launched during the early hours of this Thursday air strikes against military complexes of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip in response to the launch hours before of rockets towards Israel.

"The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) hold Hamas responsible for all terrorist activity emanating from Gaza, so it is the one who will pay the price for security violations against Israel," the Israeli Armed Forces said in a statement. on his profile on the social network Twitter.

Thus, the IDF has detailed that "in response to the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel", Israeli warplanes "have destroyed a production site for chemical raw materials and a weapons manufacturing site belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization". .

"This attack constitutes significant damage to the ability of Hamas -- which controls the Gaza Strip -- to strengthen and arm itself," the Army concluded.

Palestinian sources have reported that several Israeli F-16 warplanes have fired at least five missiles in the center of Palestinian territory. These bombardments would have destroyed and set fire to the area, causing damage to various homes and properties, as the Palestinian news agency Wafa has learned.

The Israeli Armed Forces reported shortly before that they had intercepted a projectile fired from Gaza towards the border town of Sderot. Local authorities have confirmed that no fragments of the rocket have fallen in the city.

These attacks come after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended a trip to Israel, where he called for an end to the cycle of violence, adding that the resumption of negotiations for a Palestinian state would only take place once calm was restored.

Tensions in the area have risen in recent weeks following the death of around 30 Palestinians so far this year in security operations and clashes with Israeli security forces.

The most recent escalation took place last week when a dozen Palestinians were killed in a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. After that, seven Israelis died in an attack in the Neve Yaajov settlement and two others were injured when they were shot by a young Palestinian.