News - Middle East: Israeli warplanes carried out a fresh round of airstrikes against the besieged Gaza Strip, drawing retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian resistance fighters in the impoverished coastal enclave.

Explosions were heard west of Gaza City after the Israeli army’s drones targeted a resistance site in that area.

The Israeli occupation army bombed the “Abu Jarad” site, west of Gaza City, in addition to the “Areen” site, northeast of the Nusseirat refugee camp, in the central strip.

Rocket sirens blare across Israeli settlements

Rocket sirens were activated in the settlements around the Gaza Strip, warning of the firing of a missile salvo from the strip, which followed the raids launched by the Israeli warplanes on resistance sites in Gaza.

In a statement, a spokesman for the Israeli occupation army confirmed that nine rockets were launched from Gaza in two waves, noting that the Iron Dome system intercepted only four of them.

According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the current trend in Israel is a limited response to the rocket fire from Gaza so that matters do not escalate on the eve of the Jewish Passover holiday.

Palestinian resistance responds to Israeli airstrikes

Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip responded to the Israeli aggression by launching surface-to-air missiles at the warplanes.

The escalation comes after the occupation forces stormed the al-Qibli prayer hall in al-Aqsa Mosque, at dawn today, Wednesday, forcibly removed the worshipers from inside, and arrested hundreds, while firing stun grenades at them, which led to injuries among the worshipers.

During the attack, the occupation police prevented the medical staff from entering al-Aqsa Mosque and stormed the medical clinic adjacent to al-Qibli Mosque in al-Aqsa Mosque.

Palestinian resistance: We bombed the settlements in retaliation 

The National Resistance Brigades (Martyr Omar Al-Qasim Forces), the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, announced that it bombed the settlements around the Gaza Strip with a rocket barrage this morning, in response to the Zionist raids that targeted the Gaza Strip.

“The National Resistance Brigades and the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades announce that they bombed the city of Asqalan with a rocket barrage a while ago in response to the Zionist aggression that targets our land and our al-Quds,” the statement read. 

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem also said that “the Zionist bombing of the Gaza Strip this morning is a failed attempt to prevent Gaza from continuing to support our people in al-Quds and the West Bank by all means.”

Qassem went on to say that the Palestinian people and their valiant resistance in the Gaza Strip and all of Palestine will remain a sword and a shield for al-Quds.   

“The bombing will not intimidate us. On the contrary, it strengthens our commitment to exercising our right to support the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque,” he concluded.

Source: Press TV