Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Palestinian father in Gaza Strip holds his dead baby girl between his arms and shoulder to give her a final hug after she was killed in an lsraeli airstrike.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip launched dozens of rockets toward Israel early Saturday, setting off air raid sirens across the country and raising the likelihood of a new round of heavy fighting.
The sound of outgoing rockets whooshing through the air could be heard in Gaza and sirens wailed as far away as Tel Aviv, some 70 kilometers to the north, during an early morning barrage that lasted more than 30 minutes. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue agency said a 70-year-old woman was critically injured when a rocket hit a building in southern Israel. Elsewhere, a 20-year-old man was moderately injured by rocket shrapnel, it said.
Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas, an Islamic militant group that opposes Israel, seized control of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then. There have also been numerous rounds of smaller fighting between Israel and Hamas and other smaller militant groups based in Gaza.
The blockade, which restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, has devastated the territory’s economy. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep militant groups from building up their arsenals. The Palestinians say the closure amounts to collective punishment.
The rocket fire comes during a period of heavy fighting in the West Bank, where nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military raids this year. Israel says the raids are aimed at militants, but stone-throwing protesters and people uninvolved in the violence have also been killed. Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets have killed over 30 people.
“In the last hour, a massive firing of rockets into Israeli territory from Gaza began, and terrorists penetrated into Israeli territory in a number of different locations,” a statement by the Israeli army social media platform X.
“Hamas … which is behind this attack, will bear the results and responsibility for the events,” it said.
The attack comes as a military wing of Hamas Al Qassam Bridages announced an operation — ‘Al Aqsa Floods’ and fired thousands of rockets in reponse to the ongoing provocations in Al-Aqsa and the treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Hamas “will face the consequences and responsibility for these events”, an army statement said.
A woman in her 60s was killed “due to a direct hit” in Israel, the Magen David Adom emergency services said.
Fifteen others were wounded, two of them seriously, medics said.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would shortly convene security chiefs over the violence.
– Hamas urges others to join battle –
In a statement posted on Telegram, Hamas called on “the resistance fighters in the West Bank” as well as “our Arab and Islamic nations” to join the battle.
Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza since 2007 after Hamas took power.
Palestinian militants and Israel have fought several devastating wars since.
The latest fire follows a period of heightened tensions in September, when Israel closed the border to Gazan workers for two weeks. There was no immediate response from Israel. But the Israeli military usually carries out airstrikes in response to rocket fire, raising the likelihood of wider fighting. Although there was no claim of responsibility for the rocket fire, Israel typically holds the ruling Hamas militant group responsible for any fire emanating from the territory.
The launches came after weeks of heightened tensions along Israel’s volatile border with Gaza, and heavy fighting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
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