New right-wing government in Israel: how does it impact the Middle East?
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(CNN) --
Israel launched airstrikes on suspected weapons manufacturing and storage sites in Gaza on Thursday, following a rocket attack from the coastal enclave, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
In a statement, the IDF said "warplanes struck a weapons manufacturing site" in central Gaza that was owned by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza.
"In parallel, a military complex belonging to the Hamas Terrorist Organization in the northern Gaza Strip, which was also used as a depot for the storage of naval weapons, was attacked," the statement said.
2022 has been the most violent year for Palestinians and Israelis since the early 2000s, according to a CNN analysis
Earlier Thursday, the IDF said five rockets fired from Gaza into Israeli territory, including the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, were intercepted and another rocket landed in an open area.
The airstrikes come after at least 11 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, during an Israeli army raid that also injured at least 500 others, Palestinian officials said Thursday.
One of those killed in the Nablus raid was a Hamas member, and two were Islamic Jihad commanders, the two militant groups said earlier.
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“Our teams took care of 488 wounded during the occupation forces' invasion of Nablus, including 103 wounded by live bullets taken to hospitals in Nablus,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The other injuries included tear gas inhalation and shrapnel wounds, they said.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed the figures.
The raid in Nablus lasted about four hours and, unusually, was carried out in broad daylight because the IDF said it had intelligence on where the suspects were.
The IDF accused them of being responsible for the death of an Israeli soldier and of posing an imminent threat.
The United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said Wednesday night that he was "appalled by the loss of civilian life" in the attack.
"I am deeply disturbed by the continuing cycle of violence," Tor Wennesland said in a statement.
"I urge all parties to refrain from taking actions that could further inflame an already volatile situation."
A Palestinian confronts an Israeli military vehicle during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on February 22, 2023.
'Violent and deadly'
The occupied West Bank has been rocked by a series of deadly Israeli military incursions in the past year as tensions between Israel and the Palestinian territories remain high in a region torn by bloodshed.
An Israeli raid on the city of Jenin in January led to the deadliest day for Palestinians in the West Bank in more than a year, according to CNN records, with at least 10 Palestinians killed that day and one later from their injuries.
A day later, at least seven civilians were killed in a shooting near a synagogue in Jerusalem, which Israel called one of its worst terror attacks in recent years.
This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads a cabinet that has been described as the most religious and far-right in the country's history.
Netanyahu previously told CNN's Jake Tapper that people can become "obsessed" with negotiating peace with the Palestinians, but that he has taken a different approach.
At a time when relations between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants are boiling over, CNN's Hadas Gold said the scenes on Wednesday reflected those “not seen since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising.
"Even over the last year and a half here, it's been a very violent and deadly year, these numbers are some of the highest I've seen in my time here," he added.
Israel and Palestine conflict