Israel closes border with Palestine after mass killings
2023.02.23 06:20
Israel closes border with Palestine after mass killings
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Thursday, a day after 11 Palestinians were killed during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, concerns of a larger escalation were rekindled when Gaza militants fired rockets and Israel launched air strikes across the border between Israel and Gaza.
As U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland arrived in Gaza to meet Hamas leaders, officials reported that Egypt and the United Nations were beginning mediation efforts to calm the situation.
Six rockets, according to Israel’s military, were fired overnight from the Gaza Strip, activating air raid sirens in southern Israeli communities. Missile defenses stopped five of the rockets, and one fell in an open area. There were no reports of harm.
Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, said it had the right to defend itself against Israeli aggression but did not claim responsibility for the rockets.
The Israeli military reported that afterward, Israeli fighter jets struck a Hamas-owned weapons manufacturing facility in Gaza. No wounds were accounted for.
The Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday preceded the cross-border attacks. According to Palestinian sources, Israeli troops had wounded more than 100 people and killed 11 Palestinians, including six gunmen and five civilians.
According to the Israeli army, soldiers tried to detain militants who were thought to be planning imminent attacks but fired back after coming under fire.
According to the Islamic Jihad, Israeli forces had reportedly surrounded two of its Nablus commanders in a house, resulting in a fight that attracted additional gunmen. Youths hurled rocks at armored troop transports as explosions sounded.
According to Palestinian sources, a third gunman had also killed the two Islamic Jihad commanders. They claimed that two 16-year-old boys and a 72-year-old man were among the five civilian casualties.
A diplomatic source told Reuters that U.N. Middle East envoy Wennesland arrived in Gaza to meet with Hamas leaders to try to calm the situation.
“I am continuing my engagement with all parties involved in an effort to calm the situation down.” In a statement issued prior to the visit, Wennesland urged all parties to refrain from taking any actions that could further aggravate an already volatile situation.
A Palestinian authority expressed pioneers from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad cautioned go betweens, including Egypt, the circumstance could slide into an “open a showdown” in the event that there was no change.
Israeli authorities had no prompt remark.
On Thursday, Palestinian organizations in Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank went on strike. In all of those places, banks, schools, and universities kept their doors locked.
In support of Nablus and the rest of the West Bank, vegetable seller Abdel-Latif Abdu kept his shop closed in Gaza.
“Israel is unable to divide us. According to him, “We are one people and cannot be divided.”
Israel has intensified its raids in Nablus and nearby Jenin over the past year in response to a string of deadly Palestinian street attacks in its cities.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, 62 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, were killed in 2023. According to Israel’s foreign ministry, Palestinian attacks resulted in the deaths of ten Israelis and a Ukrainian tourist during the same time period.
