Israeli jets hit northern Gaza
Hamas says mediation efforts continue despite the resumption of violence.
Rocket attacks
The Islamic Jihad group fired more than one dozen rockets from the Gaza Strip early on Thursday but they caused little damage and no injuries.
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Does the renewed violence in Gaza destroy hopes of a truce between Hamas and Israel? |
“The Israeli air force raid targeted a rocket launch that was ready to fire in the Beit Hanoun area in the northern Gaza Strip,” an Israeli army spokesman said.
“Two of the rockets exploded at Sderot, damaging a building, but without injuring anybody.”
Bethlehem burials
Four Islamic Jihad killed in Bethlehem were buried on Thursday [AFP] |
“Yesterday in Bethlehem we demonstrated once again that the state of Israel will continue to pursue and strike all murderers with Jewish blood on their hands,” Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, said on Thursday.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president who suspended talks with Israel after clashes in recent weeks led to the deaths of more than 120 Palestinians, condemned Israel’s “ugly crime” in Bethlehem.
In Gaza, about 3,000 Palestinians marched to protest aganst the Israeli raid in Bethlehem, and Hamas blamed Israel for the renewed violence.
Abu Obeid, a Hamas spokesman, threatened retaliation against “all of the Zionist colonies and towns around Gaza”.
“A state that respects the freedom of expression or claims that it is democratic should not limit the movement of press teams” Walid al-Umari, Al Jazeera’s Palestine bureau chief |
Walid al-Umari, Al Jazeera’s Palestine bureau chief, said the decision was part of a campaign against the channel, backed by Israel’s foreign ministry.