JERUSALEM: Massive explosions and rocket fire pierced the night sky as Israel bombarded Gaza and Lebanon following rocket fire by Palestinian militants.

The broadening of the conflict since repressive Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque drew appeals for restraint from the international community, but the Israeli army vowed it would not allow Palestinian factions to open a new front in Lebanon.

A barrage of over 30 rockets fired from Lebanon on Thursday marked the biggest escalation since Israel fought a 34-day war with Iran-backed group Hezbollah in 2006.

Meanwhile, Two Israeli sisters were killed and their mother was seriously wounded in a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday.

Two Israeli sisters killed in West Bank attack

The Israeli army said it had launched a manhunt for the perpetrators of Friday’s shooting. It said the women were fired on in a car as they passed through Hamra junction, in the northern part of the Jordan Valley.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Oded Revivi, mayor of the illegal West Bank settlement Efrat, confirmed the two dead were sisters, adding that the third woman who was seriously wounded was their mother.

The attack came after the army carried out air strikes and an artillery bombardment before dawn in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

In response to Thursday’s rocket fire, Israel “struck targets, including terror infrastructures, belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in southern Lebanon”, the army said — the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since April 2022.

Explosions were heard in Lebanon’s Tyre region as well as the Gaza Strip, where Israeli air raids had begun before midnight. At least three blasts were heard in the Tyre area.

Rocket launcher dismantled

The Lebanese army said it had found and dismantled a multiple rocket launcher in an olive grove in the Marjayoun area near the border, still loaded with six rockets primed to fire at Israel.

In Gaza, the Israeli army said it had hit two tunnels and “two weapon manufacturing sites” belonging to Hamas “as a response to the security violations of Hamas during the last few days”.

The army said air defences intercepted 25 rockets on Thursday, while five hit Israeli territory.

Israel “will not allow the Hamas terrorist organisation to operate from within Lebanon and holds the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory”, it added.

On Friday, Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem said “the threats and intimidation of the Zionist leaders will lead nowhere”, adding that “the entire axis of resistance” was on alert.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2023