Israeli army strikes Palestinian factions’ sites in Gaza

By Hani Al-Shaer

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The Israeli army on Thursday bombed sites of Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, with no injuries reported.

Israeli warplanes launched successive raids on military sites of armed factions in Gaza City and central areas of the strip, according to sources on the ground.

There were no reports of injuries, but the shelling caused violent explosions and damage to houses adjacent to the sites.

The Israeli army said that its “fighter jets struck a production site for raw chemical material production, along with a weapons manufacturing site belonging to the Hamas Terrorist Organization.”

It added that the shelling comes in “response to a rocket launch from Gaza into Israel earlier Wednesday.”

“The IDF holds Hamas responsible for all terrorism activity emanating from Gaza and it will face the consequences of security violations against Israel,” the army said.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, announced that its air defense units confronted invading Israeli warplanes on Gaza with surface-to-air missiles, without giving further details.

The National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, announced that Israeli settlements bordering the Gaza Strip were bombed with a missile "in response to Israel’s shelling."

There was no Israeli comment on the Palestinian comments.

According to Hebrew newspaper Maariv, warning sirens sounded in areas bordering Gaza due to the firing of rockets, without giving further details.

On Wednesday evening, the Israeli army announced that its Iron Dome defense system had intercepted a “rock” fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.

No Palestinian faction in the Gaza Strip claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Palestinian Territories have witnesses rising violence following an Israeli military operation in Jenin last Thursday that left at least 10 Palestinians dead. In the wake of the operation, two shootings in Jerusalem claimed the lives of seven Israelis.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report