Israel strikes Gaza, Lebanon in response to major rocket attack

TIL Desk/World/Jerusalem/ In response to a major rocket attack, Israel on Friday launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon amid escalating tensions in the region. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it “struck targets including terrorist infrastructures belonging to Hamas in southern Lebanon”.

“The IDF will not allow the Hamas terrorist organisation to operate from within Lebanon and hold the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory,” the statement said. This comes in retaliation after 34 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel late Thursday night, said the IDF.

It said that 25 rockets were intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array, while five landed in Israeli territory and four additional launches were under review.

Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes stepped up airstrikes with around 20 missiles hitting four new sites in 10 minutes. Meanwhile, Hamas, the militant organisation which controls the besieged Palestinian enclave, said that it was not aware of who launched the rockets into Israel from Lebanon.