Hamas militants, on Thursday, October 12, fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israeli air strikes that targeted “civilians” in two Gaza refugee camps.
The barrage came as U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, landed in Tel Aviv on Thursday as part of a wider Middle East tour to display Washington’s solidarity with Israel after the attack by Palestinian Hamas militants and to seek to quell the conflict.
Blinken is expected to hold talks with the Palestinian and Jordanian leaders in Amman.
“Tomorrow (Friday) in Amman, Secretary Blinken will have meetings with Palestinian president (Mahmud) Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II,” a U.S. official told an AFP correspondent travelling with Blinken.
However, the Palestinian group confirmed that Hamas militants fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israeli air strikes.
“Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades fired rockets at Tel Aviv in response to Israeli strikes targeting civilians in Al-Shati and Jabalia camps,” Hamas said, referring to its armed wing, in a text message sent to journalists on Thursday.
Journalists witnessed dozens of air strikes over 30 minutes on Thursday morning in the direction of Al-Shati camp and in the blockaded strip’s north.
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“The occupation (Israeli forces) committed massacres this morning in Al-Shati camp and Jabalia camp, leaving dozens of martyrs and injured,” the spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry, Iyad al-Buzum, said.
An Israeli air strike had earlier killed 15 Palestinians in a Gaza refugee camp.
Palestinians said the air strike was the third in the past few hours on residential buildings across Gaza, adding that residents did not receive any warning from Israeli security before their homes were bombed.
Israel’s military indicated on Thursday that it would not publish the number of interceptions of Palestinian rockets that it has carried out in the Gaza war, citing concern that such information would help Hamas.
“I’m not going to tell the enemy the number of our intercepts,” spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht told reporters, outlining what appeared to be a departure from past wartime policy.
Israeli officials have previously said they were planning for possible strains on their supplies of anti-rocket interception missiles in the event of especially heavy fighting.
Hamas militants breached the border fence enclosing the Gaza enclave at the weekend, rampaging through towns and villages and killing 1,200 people while taking scores of hostages, the Israeli military has said.
Israeli jets have pounded Gazan targets for days in retribution, and the death toll there has risen to 1,200, Palestinian media reported, citing Gaza’s health ministry.
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