Gaza City:
Militants from Israel and Gaza fired across the border on Wednesday, a day after Israeli attacks resumed deadly violence that killed 15 people in the Palestinian territory.
Smoke billowed from the densely populated coastal region after Israel announced it was targeting rocket launching infrastructure held by Islamic Jihad militants.
According to the army, an AFP journalist told that after this fire alarm sirens began to sound in the Tel Aviv area as well as in communities along the border.
A Gaza Health Ministry official told AFP that one person was killed in the Israeli strikes, while another was seriously injured.
An AFP journalist in Gaza saw dozens of rockets fired by Palestinian militants, while a senior Israeli security official told reporters that “more than 60 rockets” were launched.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had received no immediate reports of casualties from the rocket fire.
Three top Islamic Jihad militants and 12 others, including four children, were killed in the latest violence a day after Israel struck Gaza, according to a health ministry figure.
Israel’s military said Wednesday’s attacks included firing on militants who were “traveling to a rocket launch site in the town of Khan Yunis” in southern Gaza.
Islamic Jihad vowed to retaliate on Tuesday, with Israel warning its residents near the border to stay near bomb shelters.
Ahead of Wednesday’s fire, Gaza’s usually bustling shops were closed, as resident Monther Abdullah said people “expected the worst”.
“Everyone feels anxious and people are not on the street as much,” the 50-year-old told AFP. “I definitely feel like a war is coming, and there is tension and fear, whether here or there (in Israel). ).”
The latest violence comes on the second anniversary of the devastating 11-day war fought between Gaza militants and Israel.
west bank deaths
The names of senior Islamic Jihad operatives killed on Tuesday were Jihad Ghannam, Khalil al-Bahtini and Tarek Ezzedine.
Although based in Gaza, the latter was a militant leader in the West Bank.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli troops raided the West Bank town of Qabatiya, killing two people whom the army accused of shooting at the soldiers.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the two people as Ahmad Jamal Tawfiq Assaf (19) and Rani Walid Ahmad Qatanat (24).
The Israeli army said soldiers detained a man during the raid after soldiers were shot at from a vehicle.
“The troops retaliated live fire towards the two attackers and killed them,” the army said.
Mourners, including armed militants, later carried the bodies of the two men through the streets in a funeral procession.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War and its forces regularly operate in Palestinian cities.
‘Out of control’
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Gaza’s ruling Hamas, said on Tuesday that “killing the leadership” in Gaza would bring “more resistance”.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad are considered terrorist organizations by Israel and the United States.
Washington on Tuesday called for “de-escalation of the situation from all sides”.
While Hamas has fought several wars with Israel in recent years, the group remained on the sidelines of a three-day conflict fought between the country and Islamic Jihad in August.
After Tuesday’s airstrikes, Egypt – a longtime mediator in Gaza – said such actions “inflame the situation in a way that could spiral out of control”.
The latest violence brings to 126 the number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far this year.
Nineteen Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian have been killed in the same period, according to an AFP count based on official sources on both sides.
These figures include combatants as well as civilians, and, on Israel’s side, three members of the country’s Arab minority.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)