Israel and Palestinians Exchange Rocket Strikes

Israel launched an airstrike against the eastern Gaza Strip this morning, killing one Palestinian. The death toll from the last two days of bombings now stands at sixteen. Israel did not comment on the bombing; however, Abu Obaida said that Israel is going to pay the price for bombing Gaza. Obaida is part of the Issedine al Qassam Brigade of Hamas.

Israel was responding to an attack from Gaza that included at least 90 rocketstargeting communities in southern Israel. Four people were wounded in the attacks. Both Israel and Gaza are on high alert. According to Palestinian officials, Israel sent four tanks into Gaza. The tanks traveled about 100 yards and then returned to Israel. Israel has aircraft patrolling the region and anyone suspected of being a militant will be targeted.

Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the United States State Department, strongly condemned the attacks towards Israel from Gaza. The Palestinians condemned the actions of Israel. Nabil Abu Rudaina, a spokesman for thePalestinian Authority, said that Israel’s escalation of the situation leads to more violence in the area.

On Friday afternoon, Israel’s initial airstrike killed two people. One of the dead was Mahmoud Ahmad Al-Hanini, who is a leader of the Hamas military. He had been released from an Israeli prison five years earlier. The other was Zuhair al-Qaisy, who was the Popular Resistance Committees’ (PRC) secretary general. The PRC is a militant group that fired mortars and rockets towards Israel. There were three other PRC members killed. A rocket launching site in Gaza was also hit by Israeli rockets. Three died in that attack.

According to Israel, al-Qaisy is responsible for the planning of an attack against Israel last August that injured 40 people. In addition, Israel alleges that he provided militant groups in Gaza with funds fromHezbollah.