Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/JERUSALEM: Gaza militants fired rockets and Israel carried out airstrikes on Friday as tensions soared following Israeli armed forces raid in the occupied West Bank that killed nine Palestinian citizens, including at least seven fighters and a woman.
It was the deadliest Israeli raid in the territory in more than two decades. The flare-up in violence poses a new test for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and casts a shadow on United States Secretary of State Antony Blicken’s expected trip to the region next week.
West Bank raid
The Israeli army said that Palestinian militants fired five rockets at Israel. Three were intercepted, one fell in the open place, and another fell short inside Gaza. Israel carried out airstrikes at what it said were militant force targets.
Thursday’s deadly Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp was likely to reverberate on Friday as Palestinian citizens gather for weekly Muslim prayers that are often followed by protests. Hamas, the militant force that controls Gaza, had threatened revenge for the raid.
The Palestinian Authority said it would halt the ties that its security forces maintain with Israel in an effort to contain Hamas. The Previous threats have been short-lived, partly because of the benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship and also due to US and Israeli pressure to maintain it.
The Palestinian Authority has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank and almost none over Hamas strongholds like the Jenin camp. But the announcement paved the way for Israel to step up operations it says are needed to prevent attacks.
