Conflict between Israel and Palestine: Following rocket fire, Israel conducts airstrikes on Gaza

*Paromita Das
Israel carried out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip for the first time since January. The decision was made in response to a rocket fired by the Palestinian enclave.

According to witness accounts and Gaza security sources, the strike did not result in any casualties, according to AFP. Hamas claims it thwarted the attack with its “anti-aircraft defence” system.
In response to the rocket launch by the Islamist group Hamas, sirens were heard in southern Israel. According to reports, the projectile crashed into the sea off the coast of Tel Aviv.

The Israeli ministry said in a statement that the “rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Air Defense System,” and the Israeli air force announced hours later that it had retaliated by targeting a Hamas weapon manufacturing site.

Last year, around the same time, a similar upheaval in Jerusalem prompted multiple Hamas rocket attacks into Israel, resulting in an 11-day war. Tensions between Israel and Palestine have risen in recent days as a result of violence near the Jerusalem holy site of Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has left more than 150 Palestinians injured, according to some estimates. According to Al Jazeera, citing Palestinian sources, this number could be as high as 400.

The fire in Gaza and the Al-Aqsa violence come on the heels of a spike in violence in Israel, which has included four deadly attacks by Palestinians and Israeli Arabs since late March, killing 14 people, mostly civilians. The uptick in violence coincides with Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, and Passover, the Jewish holiday.
An AFP tally shows that 23 Palestinians have been killed in the unrest since March 22, including assailants who attacked Israelis.

The United States has expressed grave concern about the tensions. Top US officials, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price, have been in phone contact with colleagues from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Arab countries.

“We have urged all sides to maintain the historic status quo” at the Al-Aqsa compound and avoid “provocative” actions, he said.