Tensions have escalated as Israel targeted Palestinian militant sites in southern Lebanon and Gaza on Friday, following police raids on Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque. The situation has intensified amid concerns of a broader regional conflict.
Israel launched the strikes in response to dozens of rockets fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, an act that the Israeli military has attributed to Palestinian militants. This marks the largest attack of its kind since the 2006 war between the two nations.
On Friday afternoon, violence continued to escalate with the tragic deaths of two Israeli sisters, aged 16 and 20, and the severe injury of their mother in a shooting incident in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military has announced a heightened state of alert and has mobilized an unspecified number of reservists during these "very volatile times." Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, international spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), explained to CNN that they were dealing with a "convergence of frontiers" in the region, which began in Jerusalem and expanded to Gaza, Hamas, and Lebanon.
Israeli airstrikes targeted an open area near Tyre, a southern coastal city in Lebanon. The Israeli military believes Palestinian factions launched the rockets from this location and has blamed Hamas, the militant group controlling Gaza, for the attacks.
In a statement, the IDF declared, "The IDF will not allow the Hamas terrorist organization to operate from within Lebanon and holds the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory."
Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group with significant influence in southern Lebanon, has not claimed or denied responsibility for the attacks. However, the Iran-backed armed group has warned that "hundreds of millions of Muslims" are prepared to "shed blood" in response to the Israeli police raids on al-Aqsa. In recent months, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah stated that violations at the mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City would result in "all hell breaking loose in the region." Israel has not blamed Hezbollah for the attack.
Lebanon intends to file an official complaint with the UN Security Council, accusing Israel of a "flagrant violation of Lebanon's sovereignty." Hamas also condemned the strikes on Friday, expressing "solidarity with the Lebanese people." In a separate statement, the organization criticized Israel's strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that Israeli strikes damaged a children's hospital in Gaza, causing distress to the young patients inside. "This is not the first time that health facilities have been targeted, and it is unacceptable," the ministry stated.
Hecht mentioned that Israeli strikes targeted ten sites in Gaza, including production sites, research and development sites, and tunnel infrastructure. Previously, the IDF announced it had struck several Hamas weapons manufacturing sites, an underground weapons complex, and "terror" tunnels in Beit Hanoun and Khan Yunis.
The crossfire comes amid regional outrage over Israeli police raids at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites. The incident sparked widespread condemnation from the Arab and Muslim world, as well as retaliatory rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.
