Two killed in West Bank shooting attack: Israeli army
|
Two Israelis have been killed in a shooting attack on their car in the occupied West Bank, Israeli authorities say.
The attack came with Israel on high alert in Jerusalem after a day of violence along the Lebanese and Gaza borders.
Israel’s military said soldiers had on Friday arrived at the scene of a reported car crash between Israeli and Palestinian vehicles near the Jewish settlement of Hamra and saw a car with three Israeli women inside had been shot up.
Two of the women died and the third sustained serious wounds, Israeli medical officials said.
“Soldiers are blocking routes adjacent to the scene of the shooting attack. A pursuit after the terrorists has begun,” the military said in a statement.
Earlier on Friday Israel’s military hit sites in Lebanon and Gaza in retaliation for rocket attacks it blamed on the Islamist group Hamas.
Israel said its jets hit targets including tunnels and weapons manufacturing sites of Hamas, which controls the blockaded southern coastal strip, as well as a heavy machine gun used for anti-aircraft fire.
As daybreak neared, the military said it had also struck Hamas targets in southern Lebanon, where residents around the area of the Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the southern city of Tyre reported three loud blasts.
“We strongly condemn the blatant Zionist aggression against Lebanon in the vicinity of Tyre at dawn today,” Hamas said.
Two Lebanese security sources said the strike hit a small structure on farmland near the area from which the rockets had been launched earlier.
The strike appeared to have left a large crater in farmland in the south, according to Reuters witnesses.
A member of Lebanon’s Civil Defence at the scene said there were no casualties.
The strikes came in response to rocket attacks from Lebanon towards northern Israeli areas, which Israeli officials blamed on Hamas.
The military said 34 rockets were launched from Lebanon, of which 25 were intercepted by air defence systems. It was the biggest such attack since 2006, when Israel fought a war with the heavily armed Hezbollah movement.
“Israel’s response, tonight and later, will exact a significant price from our enemies,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following a security cabinet meeting.
As the Israeli jets struck in Gaza, salvos of rockets were fired in response and sirens sounded in Israeli towns and cities in bordering areas, however there were no reports of serious casualties.
The crossborder strikes came amid an escalating confrontation over Israeli police raids at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which this year coincides with the Jewish Passover holiday.
The US State Department condemned the launch of rockets from Lebanon and earlier strikes from Gaza and said Israel had the right to defend itself.
But it also expressed concern at the scenes in the Al-Aqsa mosque, where Israeli police were filmed beating worshippers during raids that officials said were to dislodge groups of young men who had barricaded themselves inside the mosque.
The Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem’s Old City is Islam’s third holiest site, where hundreds of thousands pray during Ramadan.
Reuters
