Israel on Friday morning launched multiple airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip, a few hours after Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp, the official news agency WAFA reported.
Israeli warplanes fired some 15 missiles at a site in al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central coastal enclave, completely destroying it, causing extensive damage to nearby property and resulting in power outage which plunged entire central strip into darkness, WAFA report said.
The warplanes also slammed two other sites, located to the southeast of Gaza city and in the northern strip, by several missiles, destroying and setting them on fire.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Reports said that the Israeli attack was in retaliation for two rockets fired by Palestinian militants after nine Palestinians, including a 61-year-old woman, were killed in an Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp. Twenty others were reportedly wounded in the raids.
A tenth Palestinian was also killed by Israel in al-Ram town, north of Jerusalem, WAFA reported.
Shortly after midnight on Friday, Palestinian militants fired two rockets from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel that were intercepted by missile defences. Israel then carried out strikes in Gaza, reoprts said.
Washington has raised concern over the escalation in Israeli-Palestinian violence after Israeli forces on Thursday killed nine Palestinians during a West Bank raid in the deadliest single day in the territory in decades, The Guardian reports.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he feared the security situation could worsen after two rockets were fired from Gaza early on Friday and Israel responded with airstrikes on the territory.
The top US diplomat is set to travel to the Middle East on Sunday to discuss the situation, with a visit planned to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank.
Palestine Friday pledged to pursue justice and accountability for the victims of the heinous Israeli onslaught that resulted in the killing of nine Palestinians in northern occupied West Bank refugee camp of Jenin.
According to WAFA, two million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a punishing and crippling Israeli blockade for 12 years and repeated onslaughts that have heavily damaged much of the enclave’s infrastructure.