Palestinian Muslim devotees line up to cross an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on April 7, 2023, as they head to Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to attend the third Friday noon prayer of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan. (Credit: Hazem Bader/AFP)
Two Israeli sisters were killed and their mother seriously wounded in a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday, hours after Israel bombarded Gaza and Lebanon following rocket fire by Palestinian militants.
The broadening of the conflict since Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque drew appeals for restraint from the international community, but the Israel army vowed it would not allow Palestinian factions to open a new front in Lebanon.
It was the heaviest rocket fire from Lebanon since Israel fought a 34-day war with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in 2006 and the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since April 2022.
The Israeli army said it had launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of the shooting.
Oded Revivi, mayor of Efrat, an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank confirmed the two dead were sisters, adding that the third woman who was seriously wounded was their mother.
The army said the women were fired on in a car as they passed through Hamra junction, in the northern part of the Jordan Valley.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The attack came after the army carried out airstrikes and an artillery bombardment before dawn in response to rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon.
It said more than 30 rockets had been fired by Palestinian militants from Lebanese territory.
In response, it "struck targets, including terror infrastructures, belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in southern Lebanon," a statement said.
Explosions were heard by AFP journalists in Lebanon's Sour region as well as the Gaza Strip, where Israeli air raids had begun before midnight.
AFP journalists in the Sour area said they heard at least three blasts, and a resident of a nearby Palestinian refugee camp said he "heard explosions."
"At least two shells fell near the camp," Abu Ahmad told AFP.
The latest flareup comes after Israeli police stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque — Islam's third-holiest site — in illegally annexed east Jerusalem on Wednesday, clashing with the Palestinians inside.
The Lebanese Army said it had found and dismantled a multiple rocket launcher in an olive grove in the Marjayoun area near the border, still loaded with six rockets primed to fire at Israel.
In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said it had hit two tunnels and "two weapon manufacturing sites" belonging to Hamas "as a response to the security violations of Hamas during the last few days."
The army said air defenses intercepted 25 rockets, while five hit Israeli territory.
The Israeli army said it "will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to operate from within Lebanon and holds the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory."
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht blamed Palestinian militants for the rocket fire from Lebanon.
"We know for sure it's Palestinian fire," he told reporters. "It could be Hamas, it could be Islamic Jihad."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Israel's response, tonight and in the future, will exact a heavy price."
Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, condemned the "appalling Israeli aggression" and said it "holds the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the consequences."
The Palestinian Health Ministry said "partial damage" was done to the Al-Dorra children's hospital in Gaza City in the overnight strikes, condemning the "unacceptable" act.
Hecht said the Israeli army was aware of the Palestinian allegation and looking into it.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which patrols the area along the Israeli border, urged restraint.
"Both sides [Lebanon and Israel] have said they do not want a war," UNIFIL said in a statement.
"The actions over the past day are dangerous and risk a serious escalation."
Israeli emergency services reported one man lightly wounded by shrapnel and a woman injured while running to a shelter.
Inspecting his damaged office in the town of Shlomi, 46-year-old Shlomi Naaman told AFP: "I heard the siren, I heard the boom, I was in my home, it was very, very scary."
Israeli riot police had on Wednesday stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque in a pre-dawn raid aiming to dislodge "law-breaking youths and masked agitators" they said had barricaded themselves inside.
The violence sparked an exchange of rockets and airstrikes with militants in Gaza.
The United States recognized "Israel's legitimate right to defend itself against all forms of aggression," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called on "all actors to exercise maximum restraint."
Britain urged "all parties" to "de-escalate tensions."
Hamas and Islamic Jihad informed Egypt, a longstanding mediator between Israel and the militant groups, that "the Palestinian factions will continue their rocket fire if Israel continues its aggressions and air strikes but, if these aggressions stop, they will cease fire," Palestinian sources said.
The rocket fire came a day after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh arrived in Lebanon for a visit.
Haniyeh said late Thursday that the Palestinians would not "sit with their arms crossed" in the face of Israeli "aggression" against Al-Aqsa.