Israeli warplanes strike Gaza as Al-Aqsa crisis escalates

Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launches air strikes on the Palestinian enclave on late April 6, 2023. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 07 April 2023
Follow

Israeli warplanes strike Gaza as Al-Aqsa crisis escalates

  • Hamas and Palestinian factions are ready and anticipating all scenarios, analyst tells Arab News

GAZA CITY: Israeli warplanes bombed several military sites belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in different areas in the Gaza Strip, from midnight until the early hours of Friday morning.

The Israeli bombardment also targeted agricultural and open areas, in addition to watchtowers on the eastern border.

Israel has claimed that the bombing was in response to missiles fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israeli towns in recent days.

During the bombardment, Palestinian factions fired shells toward Israeli towns, most of which were intercepted by the air defense system Iron Dome.

The Israeli media, quoting security sources, said that about 44 rockets were fired from Gaza during the night.

The Israeli bombardment of Palestinian sites did not cause any injuries, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, but resulted in material damage to homes and properties, as well as the Al-Durra Children’s Hospital, east of Gaza City.

In a press statement, the ministry said that the bombing “caused a state of confusion and fear among the medical staff, pediatric patients, and their companions.”

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that Israeli planes dropped 50 tons of bombs in their bombing of the Gaza Strip during the night.

Abeer Ishteiwi, 50, told Arab News: “We lived through a night of terror and fear. The sound of bombing and warplanes was frightening. When the place near Al-Durra Hospital was bombed, I felt that the house moved from its place.”

She added: “Thank God we did not suffer any damage, but my little boy was close to me all the time. I felt him trembling with the sounds of planes in the sky, and when the bombing happened, he started screaming and crying, and he barely went back to sleep in the morning.”

The Islamic Jihad has threatened to fire rockets into Israeli cities as long as Israel attacks the Gaza Strip. 

Dawood Shehab, an official of the Islamic Jihad, said: “Every bombing will be met with rockets, and every aggression will be responded to in kind. Attacking Al-Aqsa or harming worshipers...will be met with a response. These are rules of engagement that have become part of the Palestinians’ fighting doctrine.”

Hamas is holding Israel responsible for an escalation of tensions due to attacks on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. 

“We hold the Zionist occupation fully responsible for the dangerous escalation and blatant aggression against the Gaza Strip and our proud Palestinian people, and for what will happen in the region,” it said in a statement.

“This brutal aggression against Gaza and the continued violations of the occupation against Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa will not achieve security for the occupation, nor will it grant it victory or a right in our land and Jerusalem.” 

Recent days have witnessed significant tension in light of the events at Al-Aqsa Mosque, with footage from the scene showing Israeli police attacking worshipers inside the mosque. Shells were fired from the Gaza Strip in response that night.

Ayman Al-Rafati, a political analyst close to Hamas, told Arab News that Hamas and other Palestinian factions are ready and anticipating all scenarios.

“The resistance is ready for this scenario on all fronts, and its continued wrong assessment of events will lead to a larger and unexpected reaction,” he said.

“The occupation government must realize that whenever there is a violation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, there will be unexpected and sudden reactions.”


First Jordanian passenger plane lands in Syria’s Aleppo after 14-year hiatus

Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

First Jordanian passenger plane lands in Syria’s Aleppo after 14-year hiatus

CAIRO: The first Royal Jordanian Airlines passenger plane has landed in Aleppo for the first time in nearly 14 years.

The Jordanian airline had scheduled flight from Amman to Aleppo International Airport on Tuesday, according to the Syrian News Agency (SANA) 


Top Hamas official says Gaza truce talks no longer of interest

Updated 06 May 2025
Follow

Top Hamas official says Gaza truce talks no longer of interest

  • A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel’s “hunger war” against Gaza

GAZA: A senior Hamas official said Tuesday the group was no longer interested in truce talks with Israel and urged the international community to halt Israel's "hunger war" against Gaza.
"There is no sense in engaging in talks or considering new ceasefire proposals as long as the hunger war and extermination war continue in the Gaza Strip," Basem Naim told AFP.
He said the world must pressure the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the "crimes of hunger, thirst, and killings" in Gaza.
The comments by Naim, a Hamas political bureau member and former Gaza health minister, come a day after Israel's military said expanded operations in Gaza would include displacing "most" of its residents.
On Monday Israel's security cabinet approved the military's plan for expanded operations, which an Israeli official said would entail "the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories".
Nearly all of the territory's residents inhabitants have been displaced, often multiple times, since the start of the war sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March 2 and faces a severe humanitarian crisis.
Israel's military resumed its offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, ending a two-month truce.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in a radio interview on Tuesday called Israel's plan for a Gaza offensive "unacceptable", and said its government was "in violation of humanitarian law".


Sudan’s paramilitary unleashes drones on key targets in Port Sudan

Updated 06 May 2025
Follow

Sudan’s paramilitary unleashes drones on key targets in Port Sudan

  • The barrage was the second such attack this week on a city that had been a hub for people fleeing Sudan’s two-year war
  • Local media reported loud sound of explosions and fires at the port and the airport

CAIRO: Sudan’s paramilitary unleashed drones on the Red Sea city of Port Sudan early Tuesday, hitting key targets there, including the airport, the port and a hotel, military officials said. The barrage was the second such attack this week on a city that had been a hub for people fleeing Sudan’s two-year war.
There was no immediate word on any casualties or the extent of the damage. Local media reported loud sound of explosions and fires at the port and the airport. Footage circulating online showed thick smoke rising over the area.
The attack on Port Sudan, which also serves as an interim seat for Sudan’s military-allied government, underscores that after two years of fighting, the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are still capable of threatening each other’s territory.
The RSF drones struck early in the morning, said two Sudanese military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Abdel-Rahman Al-Nour, a Port Sudan resident, said he woke up to strong explosions, and saw fires and plumes of black smoke rising over the port. Msha’ashir Ahmed, a local journalist living in Port Sudan, said fires were still burning late Tuesday morning in the southern vicinity of the maritime port.
The attack apparently disrupted air traffic at the airport, with Cairo airport data in neighboring Egypt showing that three Port Sudan-bound flights were canceled on Tuesday.
The RSF did not release any statements on the attack. On Sunday, the paramilitary force struck Port Sudan for the first time in the war, disrupting air traffic in the city’s airport, which has been the main entry point for the county in the last two years.
A military ammunition warehouse in the Othman Daqna air base in the city was also hit, setting off a fire that burned for two days.
When the fighting in Sudan broke out, the focus of the battles initially was the country’s capital, Khartoum, which turned into a war zone. Withing weeks, Port Sudan, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east of Khartoum, turned into a safe haven for the displaced and those fleeing the war. Many aid missions and UN agencies moved their offices there.
The attacks on Port Sudan are also seen as retaliation after the Sudanese military earlier this month struck the Nyala airport in South Darfur, which the paramilitary RSF has turned into a base and where it gets shipments of arms, including drones.
Sudan plunged into chaos in April 2023, when simmering tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open warfare in Khartoum. From there, the fighting spread to other parts of the country.
Since then, at least 24,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely far higher. The war has driven about 13 million people from their homes, including four million crossed into neighboring countries. It also pushed parts of the country into famine.
The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western Darfur region, according to the United Natios. and international rights groups.


Syrian president expected to visit France soon

Updated 06 May 2025
Follow

Syrian president expected to visit France soon

  • Sharaa in February received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit France in the ‘coming weeks’

Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is expected to visit France soon, a statement by the Syrian president’s office said, without specifying a date.
Sharaa in February received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit France in the “coming weeks.”


Trump, asked about Israel’s Gaza plans, says US will help on food

President Donald Trump speaks during an event in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, May 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Updated 05 May 2025
Follow

Trump, asked about Israel’s Gaza plans, says US will help on food

  • UN and aid organizations have warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming after two months of Israeli blockade

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump repeated a US pledge to help get food to Palestinians in Gaza when he was asked at the White House on Monday about Israeli plans for an expanded offensive in the territory.
Trump did not offer his views on Israel’s operations. He made the comments to reporters in the Oval Office.

Israel’s security cabinet approved the expansion of military operations in Gaza including the “conquest” of the Palestinian territory, an official said Monday, after the army called up tens of thousands of reservists for the offensive.
It comes as the United Nations and aid organizations have repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming after more than two months of a total Israeli blockade.
The Israeli official said the expanded operations “will include, among other things, the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories, moving the Gaza population south for their protection.”
A different senior security official said “a central component of the plan is a large-scale evacuation of the entire Gazan population from the fighting zones... to areas in southern Gaza.”
The plan, approved by the cabinet overnight, comes amid a push by Israel for Palestinians to leave the territory.
A “voluntary transfer program for Gaza residents... will be part of the operation’s goals,” the senior security official added.
The European Union voiced concern and urged restraint from Israel, saying the plan “will result in further casualties and suffering for the Palestinian people.”
Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted the war with Hamas, which was sparked by the militants’ October 2023 attack.
Israel has since carried out intensive aerial bombardments and expanded ground operations across the Palestinian territory.
Gaza rescuers on Monday said Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people.