Gaza rockets, Israeli strikes follow deadly West Bank raid

Palestinians in Gaza launched rockets at southern Israel and Israeli aircraft struck targets in the coastal enclave early on Thursday after a deadly gun battle with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank killed 11 Palestinians.

A 66-year-old man died after the raid from tear gas inhalation. The bloodshed extends one of the deadliest periods in years between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, where dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the year. Palestinian attacks on Israelis in 2023 have killed 11 people.

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The violence comes in the first weeks of Israel's new far-right government, which has promised to take a tough line against the Palestinians and pledged to ramp up settlement construction on lands Palestinians seek for their future state.

Trails of smoke are seen as rockets are fired from Gaza towards Israel during the sunrise in Gaza on Thursday. AFP

On Thursday, police said security guards at the entrance to a West Bank settlement shot a woman who police said attempted to stab the guards. Her condition was not immediately known.

The Israeli military said Palestinians fired six rockets from the Gaza Strip toward the country's south early on Thursday. The Israeli military said air defences intercepted five of the rockets, which were fired toward the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot. One missile landed in an open field. Israeli aircraft then struck several targets in northern and central Gaza, including a military compound belonging to the Hamas group that rules Gaza. There were no reports of injuries in Israel or Gaza.

Associated Press