GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes pounded Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in a new flare-up of hostilities that saw dozens of rockets and mortar shells fired from the Palestinian enclave, the army said.
The strikes targeting Hamas’ military wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, were more intense than in previous sorties to convey the message “we will not allow this situation to continue,” Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told reporters.
The latest spike in tensions follows weeks of deadly protests and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border as well as the worst military escalation last month since a 2014 war.
It comes as US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Jason Greenblatt and adviser Jared Kushner visit the region to discuss issues including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Israeli planes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel from the Palestinian territory, the army said.
“They may look like toys but I can assure they are not toys, they are weapons intended to kill and to inflict damage,” Conricus said.
He said that so far Israel had sought to warn off those launching the airborne devices but that could change.
“Hamas and other militants, but mainly Hamas” hit back after the first air raids with more than 45 rockets and mortar rounds fired from Gaza toward Israel, seven of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, he added.
Three more landed inside the Jewish state, he said, but did not account for the remainder.
In response, Israeli planes carried out more raids against 25 “terror objectives” including an underground training compound, according to the army.
Gaza medical sources said that five people were lightly injured in the strikes.
In a joint statement, the military wings of Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad said they had “targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza... in response to continued Israeli aggression against resistance sites in Gaza.”
Conricus said that most of the 200,000 Israeli civilians who live within range of the short-range rockets fired from Gaza “spent the night in bomb shelters.”
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Israel threatens to get tougher on Gaza after warplanes hit Hamas
Israel threatens to get tougher on Gaza after warplanes hit Hamas
- Israeli planes initially targeted three Hamas military positions overnight in Gaza in response to kites and balloons carrying incendiary and explosive devices launched into Israel
- The military wings of Hamas and allied militant group Islamic Jihad said they had “targeted seven Israeli military positions near Gaza
Trump tells Hamas to proceed with ‘full and immediate’ disarmament
WEST PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Hamas to move forward with disarmament under his plan for postwar Gaza, and said members of his so-called “Board of Peace” had pledged $5 billion to the Palestinian territory’s reconstruction.
“Very importantly, Hamas must uphold its commitment to Full and Immediate Demilitarization,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, ahead of a February 19 meeting of the board in Washington.
Disarmament is a key part in the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire plan sealed in October between Israel and the Palestinian militant group to end the war triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.
The United Nations endorsed the plan in November.
The second phase stipulates that Israeli forces gradually withdraw from Gaza and Hamas should disarm, with an international stabilization force deployed to ensure security.
Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.
Both sides accuse each other daily of ceasefire violations.
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the charter for the “Board of Peace” does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.
“The Board of Peace has unlimited potential,” Trump said Sunday in his post.
After an initial meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, the board is due to meet Thursday in the US capital.
Countries have been asked to pay $1 billion for permanent membership of the board, and the invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country invaded Ukraine in 2022, has drawn criticism.
Key US allies including France and Britain have expressed doubts.
Trump said the $5 billion in pledges by member states would be formally announced then, and that members also “have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police to maintain Security and Peace for Gazans.”
Trump has said the organization will work “in conjunction” with the United Nations.
“The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History,” he said.
Under the ceasefire plan, a Palestinian technocratic committee has also been set up with a goal of taking over governance in the battered Gaza Strip.
“Very importantly, Hamas must uphold its commitment to Full and Immediate Demilitarization,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, ahead of a February 19 meeting of the board in Washington.
Disarmament is a key part in the second phase of the US-brokered ceasefire plan sealed in October between Israel and the Palestinian militant group to end the war triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.
The United Nations endorsed the plan in November.
The second phase stipulates that Israeli forces gradually withdraw from Gaza and Hamas should disarm, with an international stabilization force deployed to ensure security.
Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.
Both sides accuse each other daily of ceasefire violations.
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the charter for the “Board of Peace” does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.
“The Board of Peace has unlimited potential,” Trump said Sunday in his post.
After an initial meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, the board is due to meet Thursday in the US capital.
Countries have been asked to pay $1 billion for permanent membership of the board, and the invitation for Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country invaded Ukraine in 2022, has drawn criticism.
Key US allies including France and Britain have expressed doubts.
Trump said the $5 billion in pledges by member states would be formally announced then, and that members also “have committed thousands of personnel to the International Stabilization Force and Local Police to maintain Security and Peace for Gazans.”
Trump has said the organization will work “in conjunction” with the United Nations.
“The Board of Peace will prove to be the most consequential International Body in History,” he said.
Under the ceasefire plan, a Palestinian technocratic committee has also been set up with a goal of taking over governance in the battered Gaza Strip.
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