The Israeli Army announced several operations in the Gaza Strip in response to recent rocket attacks in the area. The move marks a significant escalation in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, raising concerns of increased violence and instability in the region<\/p>\n
In a statement released early Saturday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the launch of large-scale military operations targeting various targets in the Gaza Strip. The operations are in retaliation for last week\u2019s rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel that damaged infrastructure, but no casualties were reported.<\/p>\n
The IDF announcement indicated that the targets included weapons production facilities, warehouses and operations centres used by Hamas, which controls Gaza. According to Israeli military sources, the purpose of these operations is to weaken Hamas\u2019 military capabilities and prevent future attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a decisive response to the ongoing attack on Israeli citizens,\u201d said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus. \u201cWe will not tolerate any attack on our sovereignty and the security of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eyewitnesses in Gaza reported hearing loud explosions and seeing clouds of smoke rising from several areas. According to medical sources in Gaza, at least five people were injured in the initial attacks, and damage to homes and civilian infrastructure was also reported.<\/p>\n
In a swift reaction, Hamas condemned the Israeli operation, calling it \u201caggression\u201d and vowing revenge. \u201cThis escalation will not go unanswered,\u201d Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. \u201cWe hold the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the consequences of this dangerous escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The recent outbreak of violence follows a period of relative calm since Egypt and Qatar signed a fragile ceasefire in May 2021 following an 11-day conflict that left more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. However, tensions remained high \u2013 sporadic clashes and frequent exchanges of fire occurred across the border.<\/p>\n
International reactions were swift, with the UN and several countries demanding restraint from both sides. UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres expressed deep concern about the escalation and called for an immediate de-escalation and a return to dialogue. \u201cCivilians, especially children, are paying the highest price for this conflict,\u201d Guterres said. \u201cWe call on all parties to protect civilians and respect international humanitarian law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s important ally the United States also participated, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken called for calm and reiterated support for Israel\u2019s right to defend itself. \u201cWe call on all parties to exercise restraint and take steps to reduce tensions,\u201d Blinken said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The IDF announcement indicated that the targets included weapons production facilities, warehouses and operations centres used by Hamas, which controls Gaza. According to Israeli military sources, the purpose of these operations is to weaken Hamas\u2019 military capabilities and prevent future attacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":408,"featured_media":21566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,7],"tags":[306,12354,317,322,316,6065,4577,5250,12353,431],"class_list":["post-21514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","category-middle-east-asia","tag-egypt","tag-fawzi-barhoum","tag-gaza","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-israel-defence-forces-idf","tag-israeli-military","tag-israeli-military-operations","tag-lt-col-jonathan-conricus","tag-qatar"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}