Israel strikes sites in Gaza after rocket attacks, as tensions rise
Israeli warplanes struck at least two targets inside Gaza, the military said, including a tunnel containing chemicals used to produce rocket propellant.
“This strike will significantly impede rocket manufacturing capabilities in the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement.
There were no reports of serious injuries after any of the attacks, although one resident of the house in Sderot was taken to a hospital for “shock,” according to local media reports.
The exchange marks one of the most extensive military engagements between the two sides since an 11-day air war a year ago in which more than 250 Palestinians were killed and 13 inside Israel. Officials have been alert for flare-ups involving forces in Gaza during the ongoing Ramadan and Passover holidays, which have been marked by clashes in Jerusalem’s Old City between police and Palestinian and Jewish activists.
Similar conflicts over access to the plaza around al-Aqsa Mosque — considered sacred by Muslims and Jews — were the spark of the broader Gaza conflict in 2021.
Israeli police were criticized for entering the mosque last week in pursuit of young men who shot fireworks and threw rocks at nearby Jewish worshipers. On Sunday, video posted on social media showed police blocking some Palestinians from entering the plaza even as they escorted Jewish visitors into the compound, prompting sharp condemnation from the government of Jordan, which plays a lead role in managing the holy site.
But diplomats and intelligence officials say that conditions are different during this holiday period and that authorities on both sides were showing greater restraint.
Israeli officials say their security measures have succeeded in keeping al-Aqsa open for prayers attended by tens of thousands of Ramadan worshipers. And Jerusalem police on Wednesday evening blocked far-right Israeli activists from reaching the Old City’s Damascus Gate, a gathering place for Muslims at the end of Ramadan fasting, thereby avoiding a repeat of last year’s clash.
And Hamas leaders, while calling for Palestinians to protest at al-Aqsa, have reportedly sent back-channel signals that they are working to avoid a major escalation. The group, which governs Gaza, is still rebuilding from the 2021 fighting and trying to improve its economy and living standards.
“They don’t want another war at this time,” a Western diplomat familiar with the communications said Thursday morning, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. “They are still rebuilding from the last one.”
But officials cautioned that tensions remained at powder-keg levels, with extremists on both sides willing to ignite a wider conflict. A single rocket launched into Israel from Gaza on Monday night was widely attributed to Islamic Jihad, a rival militant group in the enclave. In Israel, right-wing politicians have hammered the coalition government for not responding harshly enough to clashes in Jerusalem and to a spate of recent attacks by Palestinian gunmen on Israeli civilians.
“It is still a very precarious time,” the diplomat said.
A Hamas official early Thursday condemned Israel’s overnight strikes inside the enclave but stopped short of calling for a bigger response.
The strikes would “strengthen the Palestinian people’s determination to continue resisting the occupation,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasem said, according to the Haaretz newspaper.