Israel said Palestinian militants fired six rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel following an Israeli raid that killed or wounded dozens of Palestinians.
On Wednesday, the Israeli Defense Forces carried out a daytime raid into the Kasbah of the Gazan city of Nablus, targeting a new militant group known as the Lions’ Den, the IDF announced on Twitter. Israel claims three Palestinians were killed in the raid, but Palestinian officials report 11 dead and over 100 wounded, most of them civilians, according to NPR.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY CUTS SECURITY TIES WITH ISRAEL OVER JENIN RAID
שני המחבלים הנוספים פתחו בירי ונוטרלו בחילופי אש עם הלוחמים.
ריכוז מאמץ מודיעיני ומבצעי של השב״כ, הביא לאיתור המבוקשים בדירת מסתור בקסבה בשכם.
לאחר כיתור המבנה הציעו כוחות הביטחון להסגיר עצמם ומשסירבו ופתחו באש, פעלו כוחות הביטחון על מנת לסכל את חוליית הטרור >> pic.twitter.com/C8r8STXtqT— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 22, 2023
In response, Palestinian militants fired six rockets into southern Israel; five were intercepted over the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, while a sixth landed in an open field, the Associated Press reported.
The latest instance follows a similar one that occurred last month in the Palestinian city of Jenin, when an Israeli daytime raid targeting militants triggered a large gunfight that killed or injured a number of Palestinians and led to retaliatory rocket strikes.
The daytime battle on Wednesday, which involved IDF soldiers firing missiles at a building occupied by the militants, has been criticized as having caused unnecessary civilian casualties. Palestinian authorities said that among the dead in the crossfire were a 16-year-old boy and three men aged 61, 66, and 72.
State Department spokesman Ned Price offered a rare criticism of the United States’s Middle Eastern ally, telling NPR that the department was “deeply concerned” about the deaths and injuries caused by the raid.
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Israel has stepped up raids following a series of deadly attacks against Israelis last spring, particularly after the right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu took power late last year. Roughly 55 Palestinians have been killed in the first months of 2023, according to the Associated Press, compared to just 150 killed in all of 2022.
Several Israelis have been killed as well, including seven worshipers who were shot by a Palestinian gunman outside of a synagogue in the days following last month’s Jenin raid.
