Iran Press/ Middle East: The strikes came hours after dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, an attack the Israeli military blamed on Palestinian militants. The barrage from Lebanon was the largest since a 2006 war between the two countries and raised fears of a wider regional escalation.
As tensions continued to simmer on Friday, two Israeli sisters were killed and their mother was seriously wounded in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) international spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said Friday the Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon were focused mainly on Palestinian targets in the area from which they believe the rockets were launched into Israel.
The Al-Manar news outlet reported that three Israeli strikes hit an open area in the Tyre region. The Lebanese national news agency (NNA) said the area was mostly agricultural, and reported damage to homes and cars, a livestock pen and other infrastructure.
Lebanon said it would submit an official complaint to the UN Security Council, calling Israel’s strikes a “flagrant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.” Hamas also condemned the strikes in a statement Friday, and expressed “solidarity with the Lebanese people.” In a separate statement, it condemned Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said a children’s hospital in Gaza City was damaged by the Israeli strikes, distressing the young patients inside. “This is not the first time that health facilities have been targeted, and it is unacceptable,” the ministry added in a statement.
Hecht said the Israeli strikes targeted 10 sites in Gaza, including production sites and research and development sites as well as tunnel infrastructure. In earlier statements, the IDF said it hit several Hamas weapons manufacturing sites, an underground weapons complex, and “terror” tunnels in Beit Hanoun and Khan Yunis.
“Nobody wants an escalation right now,” Hecht told reporters Friday. “Everybody’s talking to everyone. There’s a lot of messaging going through political spheres to try to deescalate it.”
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