Tensions mount in Gaza after Israel intensifies airstrikes

Israel on Friday intensified airstrikes on military posts in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, in response to rockets fired at several parts in the Jewish state, escalating tensions with Palestine over the past three days the Israeli police and Palestinian worshippers clashed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. Hamas security sources said that Israeli reconnaissance drones and fighter jets launched dozens of airstrikes on military posts and facilities that belong to the Al-Qassam Brigades, the militant group’s armed wing, reports Xinhua news agency. Residents told Xinhua that they heard the buzz of the fighter jets and drones hovering over the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and that bombings were heard all over the coastal enclave. Medical sources in Gaza said that no injuries were immediately reported and hospitals and clinics have declared a state of emergency and readiness to receive possible casualties. The Al-Qassam Brigades and other minor militant groups said in separate statements that their militants fired anti-craft missiles at the Israeli jets that hovered over the Gaza Strip. The joint Palestinian chamber of operations, which comprises several armed wings of Palestinian factions, including Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, said earlier that their militants “are ready to confront any Israeli attack”. “In light of the enemy’s threats to our resistance and our people in Gaza, we affirm our readiness to confront and respond with all force to any aggression and to defend our people in all places of its presence and our sanctities,” it said in a statement. Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman said that sirens were turned on in southern Israel after barrages of projectiles and rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and that Israeli fighter jets bombed several Hamas posts and facilities in the southern, central, western and northern Gaza Strip. “The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked tonight, using a remotely manned aircraft, a heavy launcher from wh