Israeli jets hit Gaza in response to rockets as troops withdraw from Jenin

Israeli air strikes have hit the Gaza Strip after the military said Palestinian militants fired rockets towards southern Israel.

Jets struck an underground weapons manufacturing facility, the military said, but it was not immediately clear whether there would be any further escalation.

Five rockets were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and there were no immediate reports of casualties, according to Israeli forces.

It came as Israeli troops withdrew from Jenin after the largest West Bank military operation in years, leaving at least 12 Palestinians, including children and at least five fighters, and one Israeli soldier dead.

The operation, which the army said was aimed at destroying militant infrastructure and weapons in the city’s refugee camp which is home to around 14,000 people, was launched with a drone strike on Monday, and over 1,000 troops were deployed.

Thousands of residents fled the camp to seek safety with relatives or in shelters as Israeli bulldozers ploughed through Jenin, damaging roads and buildings.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that similar miltary action could be taken if it was deemed to be necessary.

“At these moments we are completing the mission, and I can say that our extensive operation in Jenin is not a one-off,” he said during a visit to a military post on the outskirts of Jenin.

“We will eradicate terrorism wherever we see it and we will strike at it.”

Those killed were aged between 16 and 23, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, while 100 more had been wounded, 20 critically. The Israeli military claimed all those killed were militants but did not provide details.

After troops left Jenin on Wednesday morning, residents emerged from their homes or returned to the camp to find piles of rubble and flattened cars.

In a further escalation of violence, eight people were injured in a car ramming and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, following the Jenin military operation.

Three of those hurt were in a serious condition, with a 46-year-old woman suffering critical injuries.

According to Israeli police, a Palestinian attacker ploughed a truck into pedestrians who were standing at a bus stop outside a shopping centre, and then went on a knife rampage.

The suspected assailant, who Israeli media said was a 23-year-old from the West Bank city of Hebron, was shot dead at the scene by an armed civilian passer-by.

The attack was claimed by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which warned that it was “revenge” and its “first response” to Israel’s military raid on Jenin. The attack was also praised by Islamic Jihad, another militant group.

(This story is being updated)