Israel said it struck targets belonging to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Lebanon and Gaza early Friday, amid rising tension days after Israeli police stormed the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, CNN reports.
The launches came hours after dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, a barrage the Israeli military blamed on Palestinian militants.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) international spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said Friday the Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon were focused mainly on Palestinian targets in the area from which they believe the rockets were launched into Israel.
The Al-Manar news outlet, backed by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, reported that three Israeli strikes hit an open area in the Tyre region. The Lebanese national news agency (NNA) said the area was mostly agricultural, and reported damage to homes and cars, a livestock pen and other infrastructure.
“The IDF will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to operate from within Lebanon and holds the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory,” the IDF said in a statement.
Hamas responded in a statement Friday, condemning the strikes and expressing “solidarity with the Lebanese people.” In a separate statement, it also condemned Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip.
Earlier, a CNN journalist in Gaza City heard the sounds of planes and explosions, minutes after the IDF announced it was targeting Gaza. The Israeli strikes hit multiple areas, and several rockets were fired from Gaza toward Israel in response.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said a children’s hospital in Gaza City was hit and damaged by the Israeli strikes, distressing the young patients inside. “This is not the first time that health facilities have been targeted, and it is unacceptable,” the ministry added in a statement.
Hecht said the Israeli strikes targeted 10 sites in Gaza, including production sites and research and development sites as well as tunnel infrastructure. In earlier statements, the IDF said it hit several Hamas weapons manufacturing sites, an underground weapons complex, and “terror” tunnels in Beit Hanoun and Khan Yunis.
An IDF drone also struck a heavy machine gun in northern Gaza that was used to fire rounds toward IDF jets and Israeli territory, one statement said.
