STORY: The Israeli Air Force again attacked targets in the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Thursday night. According to the Israeli military, the shelling was aimed at rocket and weapons production facilities of the radical Islamist group Hamas in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of dead or injured. Neither Hamas nor the smaller Iran-backed Islamic Jihad movement, which fired rockets at Israel last week, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s rocket. In view of the latest escalations, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for moderation in the Middle East conflict during a visit to the region in the past few days. He reiterated the US position that a two-state solution was the only way to a lasting solution to the conflict. The United States is considered Israel’s most important partner and a major supplier of military goods.