Response to rocket launch: Israel launches air strikes in Gaza Strip

Response to Missile Launch
Israel launches airstrikes in the Gaza Strip

Since the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover, the situation in Jerusalem’s old town is particularly tense. After violent clashes on the Temple Mount, Hamas attacks Israel with a rocket. The reaction follows promptly.

The Israeli army carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night. A weapons factory belonging to the radical Islamic Hamas movement was hit, the Israeli armed forces said. The attacks were the “response” to the fact that a few hours earlier a rocket had been fired from the Gaza Strip in the direction of Israel.

According to the army, this projectile was intercepted by the Israeli anti-missile shield “Iron Dome”. According to a count by the AFP news agency, it was the first rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on Israel since early January.

Hamas spokesman Hasem Kassem said the Israeli airstrikes that followed only hit “empty targets” in the Gaza Strip. According to Kassem, Hamas’ air defenses fired on the Israeli planes. Hamas and eyewitnesses reported no casualties from the Israeli attacks.

170 people injured in clashes on Temple Mount

The mutual rocket fire followed a weekend of violent clashes around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. More than 170 people had been injured since Friday, most of them Palestinian demonstrators.

The situation in Jerusalem’s old town has been particularly tense in recent days because the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover and Easter this year. The Temple Mount is sacred to all three monotheistic religions. Jewish believers are allowed to visit the square in front of the Al-Aqsa Mosque at certain times, but they are not allowed to pray there.

The Israeli government has repeatedly said the security forces have a “free hand” in dealing with demonstrators. The radical Islamist Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, warned on Sunday that “Al-Aqsa belongs to us and only to us”. She will defend the Palestinians’ right to pray there. The organization had described the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a “red line” and accused Israel of attacking believers.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, on the other hand, spoke of Hamas’ “wild hate campaign” against Israel. “This is the truth: Israel is doing everything to ensure that everyone can celebrate their festivals safely as always – Jews, Muslims and Christians,” he said, according to his office.

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