Israel targets Hamas, Gaza bears brunt
Jerusalem, Feb. 5: Israel struck Hamas militant targets in Gaza early Wednesday in response to rocket fire toward Israeli communities overnight, the military said, the latest flare-up following the release of the Trump ad-ministration’s Mideast plan, which the Palestinians have fiercely rejected.
The military said it targeted a Hamas weapons manufacturing site; no casualties were reported in Gaza. The exchange comes amid an uptick in cross-border rocket and “explosive balloon” launches from the Hamascontrolled territory, as well as violent protests in the West Bank. The Gaza Strip has been relatively calm in recent months as part of an informal truce between its Hamas rulers and Israel, but tension has increased since President Donald Trump unrolled his favorable plan for Israel last week.
Under the plan, Israel would be allowed to annex all Jewish settlements in the West Bank, as well as the strategic Jordan Valley.
The Palestinians were offered limited self-rule
in Gaza, parts of the West Bank and some sparsely populated areas of Israel in return for meeting a long list of conditions. The Palestinians, as well as much of the international community, view
the settlements in the West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem — territories seized by Israel in the 1967 war — as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. Hamas had recently curbed rocket fire from Gaza and rolled back weekly protests along the frontier that had often turned violent.
In return, Israel eased the blockade it imposed with Egypt on Gaza after the Islamic militant group seized power from forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority in 2007. Hamas rejected the Trump plan and vowed that “all options are open” in responding to the proposal, but the group is not believed to be seeking another war with Israel. In the West Bank, Palestinians have held scattered protests in recent days condemning the Trump initiative, burning US and Israeli flags and posters of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Firebombs have been hurled at Israeli troops, with one exploding on a solider, who was only lightly wounded.