GAZA CITY: Israeli forces and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip traded missile fire Friday, raising fears of a further escalation after one the deadliest army raids in the occupied West Bank in years.

Israel said in response to the missiles, it “targeted an underground rocket manufacturing site” belonging to Hamas and a north Gaza military base used by the Palestinian militant group.

Islamic Jihad said the rockets were “part of a message” to show that “Pales­tinian blood is not cheap”. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad had vowed to respond to Israel’s raid Thursday in the West Bank. Nine people were killed by Israeli forces during the raid on the crowded Jenin refugee camp.

On Friday night, a gunman killed seven people at an east Jerusalem synagogue, Israeli police said, in a dramatic escalation of violence. The shooting in the Neve Yaakov neighbourhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem came even as international calls for calm mounted after Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip traded missile fire earlier Friday.

A police statement said the shooter was “neutralised”.

Shooter kills seven at synagogue after Israeli forces, Palestinians fire missiles

The United States condemned the “absolutely horrific” attack. “Our commitment to Israel’s security remains ironclad, and we are in direct touch with our Israeli partners,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

‘State of panic’

Earlier, the violence prompted the Palestinian Authority to announce it was cutting security coordination with Israel, a move criticised by the US.

Among those confirmed dead in Jenin was Majeda Obeid, 61, who lived some metres (yards) from the house targeted by the Israeli forces.

Her daughter, Kefiyat Obeid, told AFP her mother was shot as she peered out her window at the clashes. “After she finished her prayers, she stopped for a moment to look and, as she stood up, she was hit in the neck by a bullet and she fell against the wall and then to the floor,” the 26-year-old said.

The military said the incursion targeted Islamic Jihad militants who were allegedly behind attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians and, according to Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, were planning “to conduct a terror attack in Israel”.

‘Bloody massacre’

Saleh al-Arouri, deputy leader of Hamas, which rules Gaza, vowed that Israel “will pay the price for the Jenin massacre”.

Washington earlier Thurs­day anno­unced US Secretary of State Antony Blinken would travel next week to Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he will push for an “end to the cycle of violence”.

FO condemns Israeli action

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Foreign Office on Friday condemned action of the Israeli forces.

Mr Sharif said Israel continued to massacre innocent Palestinians with impunity.

“Pakistan stands with the people of Palestine,” he tweeted, adding the killings call for the strongest condemnation. He stressed sustainable peace in the Middle East, saying that it was linked to the two-state solution.

“Pakistan reiterates its strong and unwavering support to the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people for full realisation of their fundamental rights including the right to self-determination,” the FO said.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023