Status: 01/27/2023 04:12 a.m
Violence in the Middle East escalates again after a deadly Israeli raid. Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip – the Israeli military responded with new attacks. The Palestinians had previously announced a halt to security cooperation.
After rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military launched air strikes on targets in the Palestinian Territory. The attacks were aimed at the training centers of the militant Hamas, the military said in the morning.
According to eyewitnesses and local media reports, Israeli drones fired two rockets at a base in central Gaza. According to Israeli information, two rockets had previously been fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel, which were intercepted by the missile defense system known as “Iron Dome”.
Deadly Israeli raid
The rocket attacks from Gaza followed an operation by Israeli soldiers in a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin, which Palestinians said killed at least nine people. 20 other people were injured. It was the most momentous military operation in the occupied territory in two decades. According to the military, the trigger for the raid was information that attacks on Israeli citizens were imminent.
According to local sources, a 22-year-old man was also shot dead north of Jerusalem in confrontations with Israeli soldiers in the afternoon.
PA suspends security coordination
As a consequence of the military operation in Jenin, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would end its coordinating cooperation with Israel on security issues. Hamas in the Gaza Strip threatened retaliation.
The bloodshed fuels fears of a further escalation of the already tense security situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories. According to its own statements, the Israeli military intercepted two rockets from the Gaza Strip on Friday night. In response, the Israeli military carried out airstrikes on targets in the Palestinian Authority. The military said the attacks were aimed at Hamas militant schools. According to eyewitnesses and local media reports, Israeli drones fired two rockets at a base in central Gaza.
Cooperation since the 1990s
The autonomy authority had already made announcements similar to the current one on previous occasions – however, they were not actually implemented. Most recently, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas terminated the cooperation in May 2020 in view of Israeli annexation plans. However, she went further behind the scenes.
Cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli security forces dates back to peace negotiations in the 1990s. Both sides exchange intelligence information to prevent terrorist attacks or to coordinate major operations in the zones controlled solely by the Palestinian Authority. It is also intended to prevent militant groups from gaining the upper hand in the area. The termination of contacts that has now been announced fuels the concern that attacks by militant groups can hardly be prevented in the future.
Israel also conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War. Negotiations on a permanent peace settlement have been idle since 2014.