Jerusalem, April 8: Two Isreali sisters were killed and their mother seriously wounded in a shooting in the occupied West Bank on Friday, hours after Israel bombarded Gaza strip and Lebanon following rocket fire by Palestinian militants.
The broadening of the conflict since the Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s flash-point Al-Aqsa mosque drew appeals for restraint from the international community but Israeli Army vowed it would not allow Palestinian factions to open a new front in Lebanon.
A barrage of over 30 rockets fired from Lebanon on Thursday marked the biggest escalation since Israel fought a 34-day war with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in 2006. “We have launched a man-hunt for the perpetrators of Friday’s shooting,” the Israeli Army said, in a press release.
The Israeli Army said the two women were fired on in a car as they passed through Hamra junction in the Northern part of the Jordan Valley. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Meanwhile, Oded Revivi, Mayor of the illegal West Bank settlement Efrat, confirmed the two dead were sisters, adding that the third woman was was seriously wounded was their mother.
The attack came after the Army carried out air strikes and an artillery bombardment before the dawn in response to rocket fire from the Gaza strip and Lebanon. In response to rocket fire, “Israel struck targets including terror infrastructure, belonging to Hamas terrorist organization in Souther Lebanon” the Army said – the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since April 2022. The Israeli Army further said that In Gaza it ad hit two tunnels and two weapon manufacturing sites belonging to Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, ‘Isreal’s response, tonight and in the future, will exact a heavy price”
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army said it had found and dismantled a multiple rocket launcher in an olive grove in the Marjayoun area near the border, still loaded with six rockets primed to fire at Israel.
EOM
