West News Wire: In retaliation to a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory over the weekend, Israel claims to have bombarded the Gaza Strip.
Early on Monday, there were several explosions reported in Gaza. The Hamas organization’s rockets’ raw ingredients were found in the underground complex that the Israeli army claimed to have destroyed.
According to the IDF, the strikes were carried out “in retaliation for the rocket firing from Gaza into Israel on Saturday”.
On casualties, there was no immediate information. Regarding that claimed rocket launch, no Palestinian allegation has been made.
The Israeli army raided Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the scene of nearly constant violence over the past few days, before daybreak, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, which reported one fatality.
The Israeli army did not comment on the Nablus raid. The raid comes amid one of the deadliest periods of violence in the region in years.
Israelis have killed at least 42 Palestinians so far this year. Ten people on the Israeli side were killed during that time.
On Sunday, dozens of leaders and senior officials from Arab and Islamic countries warned that Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank could worsen regional turmoil as violence surges between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians were facing a “lethal assault” in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, and he urged world leaders to put an end to Israel’s actions.
The international community must “protect” the Palestinian people and “put a stop to Israeli aggression[and] unilateral actions”, he told the Arab League meeting.
“Israeli intransigence and practices have crossed all red lines,” said Abbas.
In a move likely to inflame tensions, Israel’s security cabinet, late on Saturday, announced it would legalise nine West Bank Jewish settlements in response to fatal Palestinian attacks in annexed east Jerusalem.
A security cabinet statement said many of the newly authorised communities had existed for years, and others for decades, but had not previously been recognised as legitimate by Israel’s government.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned against settlement expansion in a trip to the region last month.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Some 475,000 Jewish settlers now live in the Palestinian territory, in communities considered illegal under international law.
