Israel strikes site of Palestinian faction in Gaza Strip

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army on Friday launched dozens of fresh airstrikes on a Palestinian faction in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli warplanes launched successive raids on a site of an armed military faction in the central Gaza Strip, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

No injuries were reported, but the shelling caused violent explosions and damage to neighboring houses.

​​​​​​​​The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian resistance group Hamas, announced that its air defenses responded to Israeli aircraft "with surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft missiles."

The Israeli army announced earlier on Friday that it had intercepted two rockets "fired from the Gaza Strip" towards adjacent settlements.

“Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip. The rockets were intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array,” the Israeli army said on Twitter.

Nine Palestinians were killed and 20 others injured by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, in an operation considered, according to observers, the largest of its kind since the Al-Aqsa Intifada of 2000.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN said the Israeli army launched an offensive in Jenin as the group Islamic Jihad was allegedly preparing for a massive attack, without providing further details.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report.