GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Israeli fighter jets bombed Gaza CityWednesday, a day after Tel Aviv inked a peace deal with Bahrain and theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE).
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Palestinians ofseeking to stop the peace deals, Israel´s first with an Arab country since1994.
But Gaza ruler Hamas warned Israel it faced an escalation if the bombingcontinued, barely two weeks after a renewed Egyptian-brokered truce haltednear-nightly exchanges across the border through August.
The signing of the two agreements at a White House ceremony hosted byPresident Donald Trump prompted protest rallies across the Palestinianterritories.
The deals broke with decades of Arab consensus that there would be nonormalisation of relations with Israel until it had made peace with thePalestinians and drew accusations of “betrayal” against the Western-backedGulf states.
At least 15 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip between 8 pm (1700GMT) Tuesday and early Wednesday, nine of which were intercepted by Israeliair defences, the military said.
One hit the southern port city of Ashdod, wounding at least two people,emergency services said.
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“We were surprised by the rockets,” said Ilanit Levy, a 45-year-oldresident of Sderot, an Israeli town close to the Gaza border.
“It´s because of the agreements. Maybe they wanted to say that they don´twant peace with us, that they want to damage the agreements,” she added.
The Israeli military said fighter jets responded with strikes on Hamasmilitary targets.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire.
But Israel held Hamas responsible, warning it would “bear the consequencesfor terror activity against Israeli civilians”. -APP/AFP
