Zionist Strikes in Gaza as Palestine Observes Day of Rage over Nablus Massacre

Nablus and several other cities across Al-Quds and the West Bank, as well as Gaza, were in general strike on Thursday, with residents outraged over the brutal assault which killed 11 Palestinians and injured more than 100 others earlier on Wednesday.

Shops, schools, universities and several other businesses were shut in Nablus, Al-Khalil (Hebron), Ramallah, Jenin and other Palestinian cities in mourning of the eleven martyrs who fell after Israeli occupation forces raided Nablus Old City on Wednesday.

The martyrs included 3 elderly men and a child, Palestinian media reported, adding that 7 of the injured were in critical condition.

Nablus residents bid farewell to the Palestinian martyrs on Thursday, with photos and videos of weeping families circulating on social media.

Gaza Strikes

Earlier on Thursday morning, Israeli warplanes carried out bombing raids against two sites in the Gaza Strip.

Fighter jets hit targets in central Gaza and in the coastal enclave’s northern part, the occupation military said in a statement, noting that the assault was after “six rockets were fired into southern Israel in an apparent revenge attack for a deadly Israeli incursion into Nablus a day earlier.”

Videos shared on social media showed a large explosion at a building near the coast, and a dark plume of smoke rising above the densely populated enclave in the early morning light.

Israeli occupation police earlier raised their alert level amid fears of a reprisal attack, as a spokesman for Hamas’s military wing issued a veiled threat.

Hamas’ Qassem Hazem said the resistance group was “closely monitoring the enemy’s escalating crimes against our people in the occupied West Bank, and its patience is running out.”

For his part, the Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad Al-Nakhala called the Israeli raid a “huge crime.”

“It is our duty as resistance forces to respond to this crime without hesitation,” he said.