Gaza rockets, Israeli strikes follow deadly West Bank raid

Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave Thursday. Pic/AFP

Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rockets at southern Israel and Israeli aircraft struck targets in the coastal enclave early Thursday after a deadly gunbattle with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank killed 10 Palestinians.

The bloodshed extends one of the deadliest periods in years in the West Bank, where dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of the year. Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the same period have killed 11 people.

The Israeli military said Palestinian militants fired six rockets and two anti-aircraft missiles from the Gaza Strip toward the country's south early Thursday. Air defenses intercepted five of the rockets, according to the military, and the missiles did not hit their targets. One missile landed in an open field. The attacks were not immediately claimed by Palestinian militant groups.

Israeli aircraft then struck several targets in northern and central Gaza, including a weapons manufacturing site and a military compound belonging to the Hamas militant group that rules the enclave. There were no reports of injuries in Israel or Gaza from the rocket attacks or strikes.

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The violence comes in the first weeks of Israel's new far-right government, which has promised to take a tough line against Palestinians, and as security forces step up arrest raids of wanted militants in the West Bank. Israel says the raids - begun in the wake of a series of deadly Palestinian attacks last spring - are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future assaults.

But the operations have shown few signs of slowing the violence and Wednesday's resulted in one of the bloodiest battles in nearly a year in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, raising the likelihood of further bloodshed. Israeli police stepped up security in sensitive areas on Thursday, while Hamas said its patience was "running out." Islamic Jihad, another militant group, vowed to retaliate.

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