Fire and smoke rise from buildings in Gaza City as Israel launches airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
Fire and smoke rise from buildings in Gaza City as Israel launches airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave.
Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images
TEL AVIV — Militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel and Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas sites in Gaza a day after the deadliest Israeli raid in the West Bank in years.
There were no reported injuries from the rocket fire or airstrikes – possibly a sign that neither side seeks to spark a violent spiral.
But the exchange came after Israeli troops killed nine Palestinians, including gunmen and at least one civilian, in a raid on suspected militants in the occupied West Bank on Thursday. Palestinian officials said a 61-year-old woman was killed and dozens wounded in the crowded Jenin refugee camp, where the raid took place.
Israeli troops killed another Palestinian in a separate incident on Thursday, and two more people on Wednesday, according to Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian Authority said it was suspending the usual security cooperation between its police and Israeli security forces. That cooperation — which was suspended in protest earlier — is intended to help contain the militants. Israel temporarily sent an additional battalion to the West Bank.
The US is calling for the sides to be reduced, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making a pre-planned trip to the region on Monday.
Israel began an offensive in the West Bank about 10 months ago after militant attacks inside Israel and violence continued almost daily, with many Palestinian civilians among those killed or wounded.
This story initially appeared on NPR News.
