Israel 'currently striking' besieged Gaza after Jenin incursion

Palestinians protest against the Israeli army raid in Jenin, along Israel-Gaza fence, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza on July 4, 2023. (Photo/Reuters)

Israel has carried out air strikes on blockaded Gaza in what it says was a response to rockets fired from the Palestinian coastal enclave, the army said.

"In response to the rockets launched earlier tonight [Wednesday], the IDF (Israel Defense Force) is currently striking in the Gaza Strip," the Israeli army said, which a Palestinian security source said had hit a Hamas military site in northern Gaza but caused no injuries.

Earlier, Israel claimed to have intercepted five rockets from Gaza. Israel typically responds to rocket fire with air strikes in Gaza.

The developments came after Israeli military said it was withdrawing troops from Jenin city in the occupied West Bank late on Tuesday, winding down an intense two-day incursion that killed at least 13 Palestinians, wounded more than 100, drove thousands from their homes and left a wide swath of damage in its wake.

One Israeli soldier was killed.

The Israeli incursion into Jenin refugee camp, launched early on Monday under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government, used hundreds of troops as well as drone strikes and army bulldozers that ripped up streets.

At least 200 Palestinians, 26 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed during this year's violence emanating from Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands.

Gaza enclave

The 2.3 million residents of Gaza live under a crippling Israeli blockade, from land, sea and air, that critics say amounts to collective punishment.

Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire East Jerusalem city in 1980.

Palestine sees East Jerusalem, along with Gaza, as part of its country with East Jerusalem as the capital.

Under international law, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are "occupied territories" and all Jewish settlement-building activities on the land are illegal.

Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to "Judaise" the historic city by effacing its Palestinian Arab and Islamic identity and driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.

Almost 700,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in over 130 settlements dotting the occupied West Bank alongside nearly three million Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation.

Netanyahu has pledged to "strengthen settlements" and expressed no interest in reviving peace talks, which have been moribund since 2014.

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Source: TRT