At least 10 people were killed and 44 others injured in Israeli airstrikes Friday on the blockaded Gaza Strip as tensions continue to rise in the region.
The victims included a 5-year-old girl and a leading member of the Islamic Jihad movement, local officials said.
“What is the fault of an innocent five-year-old girl to be killed in this way? How long will the Israeli occupation continue to attack the Gaza Strip in this way? We are tired!” a Gaza resident Mohammad Abu Jabal told Al Jazeera.
Friday’s strikes came amid heightened tensions on the border between Israel and Gaza after the arrest. The Israeli military airstrikes prompted retaliatory rocket attacks from Palestinian militants in Tel Aviv. Most were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense shield.
Plumes of smoke billowed over the Gazan skyline and on the ground as rescuers and medics gathered to save people.
Palestinian Authority condemns Israeli aggression
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the “Israeli aggression” and demanded immediate cessation while holding the Israeli forces responsible for “this dangerous escalation,” the statement says. Abbas called on the international community to compel Israel to stop the aggression.
Israeli PM Lapid says Gaza operation ‘will take as long as it needs’
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Israel’s military operation against the Gaza Strip “will take as long as it needs.”
In a nationally televised speech, Lapid said his country had launched the attacks based on “concrete threats,” adding that his government has a “zero tolerance policy for any attempted attacks of any kind from Gaza towards Israeli territory.”
“Israel carried out a precise counterterror operation against an immediate threat,” he said and pledged to do “whatever it takes to defend our people”.
“Our fight is not with the people of Gaza. Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy the State of Israel and kill innocent Israelis,” he said.
Islamic Jihad vows to hit back
Islamic Jihad leader Zyad Nekhale said the organization will retaliate and Tel Aviv will be one of the targets. “We have no red lines,” Nekhale said in an interview from Iran on the al-Mayadeen network.
UN deeply concerned about ‘very dangerous’ escalation
Tor Wennesland, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said in a statement that he is “deeply concerned” about escalation between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.
“In the past few hours, at least 10 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes. I am deeply saddened by reports that a five-year-old child has been killed in these strikes. There can be no justification for any attacks against civilians,” Wennesland said.
He called for an immediate end to rocket attacks and for “all sides to avoid further escalation”.