Two Palestinians killed in West Bank as Gaza attacked for 5th day

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Israel attacks several cities in the Gaza Strip for the fifth consecutive day as sirens blare in southern Israel.

Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinians and wounded three others in the occupied West Bank for the fifth day in a row as airstrikes hit the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Israeli attack on Saturday took place at the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank town of Nablus.

Both men — identified as Adnan Wasim Yousef al-Araj, 19, and Saed Jihad Shaker Mashah — were killed by gunfire to the head, it said. One of the injured was a woman in her fifties who was shot multiple times.

The deadly attack on Nablus is the latest in a series of raids on the occupied West Bank since the beginning of this year. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Meanwhile, Israel carried out airstrikes in Gaza for the fifth day, while sirens sounded in southern Israel after rockets were launched from the besieged area.

“We witnessed another night of bombing and missile launches intensified in the early morning of Saturday,” Al Jazeera’s Youmna ElSayed said from the enclave.

Israeli strikes targeted several towns across the Gaza Strip, including two neighborhoods of Gaza City that were completely destroyed, she said.

The Israeli army said it hit command centers of the armed group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and rocket launchers during its pre-dawn operations. Grainy black and white aerial footage released showed explosions and clouds of smoke rising from bombed sites.

A few hours later, rockets were fired from Gaza, setting off sirens and sending Israelis in border communities into bomb shelters.

While no casualties were reported from either side on Saturday, at least 33 Palestinians have been killed and more than 110 injured since the bombing began on Tuesday. At least six children are among the dead.

Six PIJ leaders have been killed since the latest violence erupted after Israeli forces launched an assassination campaign against the group. Simultaneous airstrikes on Tuesday killed PIJ commanders along with at least 10 civilians – some of their wives, children and neighbors – as they slept in their homes.

PIJ, the largest armed group in Gaza after ruling Hamas, has since fired nearly 1,000 rockets, some deep into Israel. At least two Israelis have been killed.

Al Jazeera’s Willem Marx, reporting near the Israeli city of Ashkelon, said the area was relatively quiet by noon.

“We occasionally hear an Israeli drone over our heads. We did not see or hear any missiles, but the warning sirens indicating the presence of missiles started around 5 am. They have sounded every now and then, especially in the smaller communities on the eastern edge of the Gaza Strip,” Marx said.

Intense bombardment

Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rockets launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from a hunger strike. Adnan protested his detention in Israeli custody without trial.

The final firefight comes as Egypt and the United Nations try to negotiate a ceasefire.

“Until last night, people were hopeful when Egyptian and local sources spoke of a humanitarian ceasefire,” said ElSayed, adding that the ceasefire will restrict access of vital medical supplies and fuel to the Gaza Strip, where hospitals are now overwhelmed. would have made possible.

“All these hopes of a ceasefire were blown away by the intensity of the bombing on both sides,” she said.

Hamas officials told local media on Friday that Egypt was stepping up its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting through “intense contacts” with both Hamas and PIJ.

PIJ numbers are sending mixed signals about the talks.

Senior official Ihsan Ataya complained on Friday that the mediators “have not been able to give us guarantees”. One sticking point is the PIJ’s demands that Israel end its policy of targeted killings, Ataya said.