The IDF struck a Hamas weapons production factory and a military site belonging to the terror organization in the Gaza Strip on Thursday morning, after six rockets were fired toward southern Israel earlier in response to an Israeli raid in Nablus on Wednesday.
Eleven Palestinians were killed and over 100 injured in armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the volatile West Bank city after they entered it to arrest a terrorist cell involved in the planning of shooting attacks intended for the near future and the one in which IDF St.-Sgt. Ido Baruch was murdered in October, along with other attacks against Israeli forces.
The wanted terrorists refused to surrender and were killed in a firefight with Israeli forces.
A senior Israeli security source stated that the defense establishment is preparing for possible ripple effects from the operation such as revenge terrorist attacks in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the interior, as well as rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions issued threats of a response after the raid, leading to the six rockets being fired toward southern Israel early Thursday morning, setting off rocket sirens in Ashkelon and the Sderot area. Five of the rockets were intercepted and one fell in an open area.
Shortly after the rockets were fired, the IDF struck a Hamas weapons production facility in the central Gaza Strip and a Hamas military site used for storing the movement’s naval weapons in northern Gaza. The military site was located next to a mosque, a clinic, a school, a hotel and a police station, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.
At the beginning of a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that “We will continue to act powerfully on all fronts, near and far, to thwart our enemies’ efforts to harm us. Whoever tries to hurt us – his blood is on his head.”
Gaza terrorists organizations react to the rockets
Islamic Jihad warned after the rocket fire that “What the resistance has done and is doing is messages of warning and a warning to the occupation and its fascist extremist government, to stop its hand against our people and stop its aggression – otherwise the situation will explode and will escalate further.
“The enemy’s attempts to separate the arenas will fail, for our people are united and the battle is one, and our resistance is ready and alert and will not abandon its duties and obligations in responding to aggression wherever it occurs.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassam reiterated that the movement’s “patience is running out” and that it had proved the “bombing for a bombing” equation.
Later on Thursday morning, Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, entered the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian towns and cities across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip declared labor strikes on Thursday in response to the raid in Nablus, closing schools and some public services.
Palestinian protesters burned tires for a second day near the border fence between the southern Gaza Strip and Israel on Thursday, with Israeli forces launching tear gas towards the protesters, according to Palestinian reports.
الشباب الثائر يشعلون الإطارات المطاطية شرق رفح جنوب قطاع #غزة تنديدًا بجريمة الاحتلال في #نابلس أمس. pic.twitter.com/JIauT9tRKt
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) February 23, 2023
In the West Bank, three Israeli children were lightly injured after Palestinians threw stones at the car they were in near Huwara on Thursday afternoon, according to Magen David Adom.
On Thursday morning, a Palestinian woman attempted to carry out a stabbing attack targeting security guards at the entrance to Ma’ale Adumim. The guards shot and apprehended her. The woman was lightly injured, according to Palestinian reports.
Maale Adumim mayor Benny Kashriel praised the security guards who thwarted the attack, saying “the vigilance and determination of the security guards prevented an event that could have ended in a fatal way.”
“The attempted attack this morning illustrates, even more, the urgent need to apply sovereignty and to promote the construction and paving of roads in Ma’ale Adumim and Judea and Samaria in general,” said Kashriel, calling on the planning council to approve thousands of housing units in his city.
Additionally, on Thursday morning, the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment against a 13-year-old for the murder of Border Police officer Asil Suaed in a terrorist attack at the Shuafat checkpoint last week.
According to the Youth Law, a minor under the age of 14 cannot be sent to detention or imprisonment after an indictment is filed, so the court ordered that the 13-year-old be placed in a designated closed institution.
On Wednesday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed outrage after another 13-year-old terrorist who conducted a shooting attack in the City of David earlier this month was moved to a closed rehabilitation center, accusing the prosecution of making a “serious mistake.”
“It is inconceivable that a terrorist who set out to murder Jews and whose malicious plan failed, will receive rehabilitation with trips, educational classes and a host of other things. He could have been sent to a closed institution with a closed wing [a Gilam hostel for juvenile offenders],” Ben-Gvir said. “That’s not how deterrence is built – that’s how we weaken Israel and damage our governance. Terrorists need to die – and this morning we submitted the death penalty bill for terrorists to fight terrorism.”