Gaza: Israel’s military says it has struck targets linked to Palestinian militant group Hamas inside Lebanon and across the Gaza Strip.
The attacks come after a major rocket barrage on Israel from Lebanon, which the Israelis blamed on Hamas.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hamas’ “terrorist” infrastructure was hit in southern Lebanon.
Tensions are high after Israeli police raided Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque on consecutive nights earlier this week.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was in Lebanon when the rockets were launched, said Palestinians would not “sit with their arms crossed” in the face of Israeli aggression.
In a statement early on Friday, the IDF tweeted that it had truck targets “including terrorist infrastructures belonging to Hamas in southern Lebanon”.
The IDF added that it would not allow Hamas to operate from Lebanon and held Lebanon “responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory”.
The attack was the biggest single barrage from Israel’s northern neighbour in 17 years, with Israel reporting that most of the 34 rockets were intercepted – but that six caused damage to buildings.
Israeli warplanes also stepped up air strikes in Gaza, with around 20 missiles striking four new sites in 10 minutes. Palestinian militants also fired a new round of rockets at southern Israel, where warning sirens were heard sounding.
The Israeli jets attacked an underground weapons production site and three above-ground sites, the IDF spokesperson’s unit was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post.
The Israeli airstrikes are said to be the heaviest since a round of fighting with Islamic Jihad in August 2022.
