West News Wire: A “military site” west of the city and a site in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the middle of the Strip were both attacked by Israeli warplanes.
Following overnight Israeli police assaults on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, the raids happened early on Wednesday morning.
Four missiles launched earlier on Wednesday by Gaza in retaliation for the police raid on Al-Aqsa preceded the Israeli attack on Gaza.
According to the Reuters news agency, witnesses claimed that Israeli tanks also shot at Hamas positions along the southern border of the Gaza Strip.
The attacks did not result in any instant reports of casualties.
According to the spokesperson for Hamas, Hazem Qassem, the most recent Israeli bombardment is “an unsuccessful attempt to stop Gaza from continuing its support.”
He hailed the “valiant resistance” of Palestinians, including those in the Gaza Strip, adding that they will continue to exercise “our right to support the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque”.
Tensions in Al-Aqsa during the month of Ramadan have in the past resulted in deadly conflicts between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers, most recently in 2021.
During the overnight raid of the mosque, 12 Palestinians were injured by rubber-tipped bullets and beatings by Israeli police, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. It also said Israeli forces were preventing medics from reaching the mosque’s compound.
Videos taken by Palestinians during the raid depicted police beating worshippers with clubs and rifles, The Associated Press news agency reported. In one video, a woman can be heard shouting, “Oh God, oh God.”
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader, Ziyad al-Nakhala, said in a press statement that Palestinian people should prepare themselves for this inevitable confrontation in the coming days.
