A man stands in a building damaged during a deadly Israeli raid in Balata camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 13, 2023. (Credit: REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta)
GAZA/JERUSALEM — Two Palestinians were killed in Israeli raid on Nablus’ Balata refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank Saturday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. An Israeli military spokesman claimed gunmen had exchanged fire with Israeli forces.
The attack came after Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Israel from Gaza early Saturday, in response to Israeli aircraft bombing Islamic Jihad targets in the enclave overnight, as violence spilled over into the occupied West Bank on a fifth day of fighting.
Earlier the Israeli military said its aircraft had struck Islamic Jihad command centers and rocket launchers in pre-dawn operations in Gaza. Grainy black-and-white aerial footage it released showed explosions and clouds of smoke rising from bombed sites.
A few hours later Gaza militants fired rockets, setting off sirens and sending Israelis in border communities running to bomb shelters. No casualties were reported inside Israel.
Egypt has been trying to mediate a truce to the latest outbreak of violence, which has so far killed at least 33 Palestinians and one Israeli. More than 140 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have died in clashes since January.
A Palestinian official familiar with the truce talks described them as “complicated” and “tough” but confirmed that Cairo was pressing ahead with its efforts.
Six top Islamic Jihad commanders have been killed since Tuesday, when Israeli forces launched a campaign against the group, which it said was planning attacks.
Islamic Jihad, the largest armed group in Gaza after the ruling Islamist Hamas, has since fired more than 1,000 rockets, some deep into Israel. One woman was killed on Thursday when an apartment was struck in a Tel Aviv suburb.
At least four women and six children have died in densely populated Gaza, an impoverished coastal territory blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007. Israel says four Palestinians were killed by misfired Gaza rockets, which Islamic Jihad has denied.
Islamic Jihad spurns coexistence with Israel and aspires to its destruction. Top ministers of Israel’s religious nationalist government rule out any state sought by Palestinians in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.