Israel’s attack at West Bank, Gaza kills two

 

After Israeli aircraft struck Islamic Jihad sites in the enclave overnight, Palestinian militants launched rockets at Israel early on Saturday as warfare entered its sixth day in the occupied West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli operation on the outskirts of Nablus in the northern West Bank, where fighting had broken out. The Israeli military did not respond right away.

Prior to daybreak operations in Gaza, it claimed that its planes had hit Islamic Jihad command posts and rocket launchers. It produced shaky black-and-white overhead footage that featured explosions and smoke billowing from blasted locations.

A few hours later, Gaza terrorists launched rockets into Israeli villages along the border, setting off sirens and sending residents scrambling for bomb shelters. Israel was the only country where no injuries were reported.

At least 33 Palestinians and one Israeli have been murdered in the most recent round of fighting, and Egypt has been attempting to broker a cease-fire. Since January, conflicts have claimed the lives of over 140 Palestinians as well as at least 19 Israelis and tourists.

A Palestinian official with knowledge of the truce negotiations called them "complicated" and "tough," but he also said Cairo was continuing its efforts.

Since Tuesday, when Israeli troops began an operation against the organization they claimed was preparing strikes, six senior Islamic Jihad commanders had been assassinated.

Since then, more than 1,000 rockets have been fired, some of them deep into Israel, by Islamic Jihad, the second-largest armed organization in Gaza behind the governing Islamist Hamas. On Thursday, a lady was murdered when a building in a Tel Aviv neighborhood was hit.

At least four women and six children have perished in Gaza, a heavily populated coastal region that has been under Israeli and Egyptian embargo since 2007. Islamic Jihad disputes Israel's claim that four Palestinians were killed by Gaza rockets that were accidentally fired.

Islamic Jihad promotes Israel's annihilation and rejects peaceful cooperation. Top religious nationalist government officials in Israel reject the idea of any Palestinian state in any of the lands they took during the Middle East conflict of 1967.