Israel strikes Gaza Strip after rocket fire
Rise in tensions comes hours after Biden’s visits to Tel Aviv, West Bank
Israeli warplanes raided the Gaza Strip before dawn on Saturday in what it said was a retaliatory strike for rocket fire from the Palestinian territory controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas.
The exchange of fire came hours after US President Joe Biden had visited Israel and the occupied West Bank.
"Fighter jets struck a military site in the central Gaza Strip belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization," the Israeli army said in a statement.
"The military site consists of an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets," it added.
The strike "will significantly impede and undermine Hamas' force-building capabilities," it said, adding that Israel was responding to "attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli territory."
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denounced the strikes, which the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said caused no injuries.
WAFA said Israeli missiles were fired at two locations, one "near a tourist resort" where nearby houses were severely damaged.
Balls of fire lit up the night sky over Gaza City after the strikes, which at one location left a hole in the earth beneath dislodged paving stones outside a low-rise building.
A man later swept up shattered glass in front of what appeared to be an office.
In further retaliation for the Gaza rocket fire, Israel announced late Saturday it was suspending a decision to increase the number of permits granted for Gazans to work in the Jewish state.
The quota was raised before Biden's visit by 1,500 permits, allowing 15,500 Gazan workers into Israel.
Hamas "carries responsibility for all activities directed against Israel in and from the Gaza Strip, and it will bear the consequences," said COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.
There had been two separate launches toward Israel on Friday night, each of two rockets, the military said.
Warning sirens had sounded in the city of Ashkelon and elsewhere in Israel's south.
Israel's military said one of the rockets had been intercepted while the other three fell on empty land.
Gaza, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, has been under Israeli blockade since 2007 when Iran-backed Hamas seized power from the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Before flying to Saudi Arabia on Friday, Biden visited the West Bank where he reiterated his administration's commitment to a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There "must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see," Biden said.
The exchange of fire came hours after US President Joe Biden had visited Israel and the occupied West Bank.
"Fighter jets struck a military site in the central Gaza Strip belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization," the Israeli army said in a statement.
"The military site consists of an underground complex containing raw materials used for the manufacturing of rockets," it added.
The strike "will significantly impede and undermine Hamas' force-building capabilities," it said, adding that Israel was responding to "attacks from the Gaza Strip on Israeli territory."
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem denounced the strikes, which the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said caused no injuries.
WAFA said Israeli missiles were fired at two locations, one "near a tourist resort" where nearby houses were severely damaged.
Balls of fire lit up the night sky over Gaza City after the strikes, which at one location left a hole in the earth beneath dislodged paving stones outside a low-rise building.
A man later swept up shattered glass in front of what appeared to be an office.
In further retaliation for the Gaza rocket fire, Israel announced late Saturday it was suspending a decision to increase the number of permits granted for Gazans to work in the Jewish state.
The quota was raised before Biden's visit by 1,500 permits, allowing 15,500 Gazan workers into Israel.
Hamas "carries responsibility for all activities directed against Israel in and from the Gaza Strip, and it will bear the consequences," said COGAT, the Israeli defense ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.
There had been two separate launches toward Israel on Friday night, each of two rockets, the military said.
Warning sirens had sounded in the city of Ashkelon and elsewhere in Israel's south.
Israel's military said one of the rockets had been intercepted while the other three fell on empty land.
Gaza, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, has been under Israeli blockade since 2007 when Iran-backed Hamas seized power from the secular Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Before flying to Saudi Arabia on Friday, Biden visited the West Bank where he reiterated his administration's commitment to a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
There "must be a political horizon that the Palestinian people can actually see," Biden said.
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