Israel Airstrikes Follow Gaza Rockets After West Bank Raid

Facts

• A day after an Israeli raid in the West Bank resulted in at least 11 Palestinians being killed and over 100 injured on Wednesday, militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel. In response, Israel's military conducted airstrikes reportedly targeting a weapons manufacturing site belonging to Hamas.
• Palestinian fighters fired six rockets at dawn, five of which were intercepted, according to the Israeli military. Israeli warplanes quickly responded by hitting two alleged Hamas military sites. Though no group has claimed responsibility for the rockets, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had warned of retaliation following Wednesday's raid.
• The military reported that the rockets were fired toward the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot, which are next to Gaza, with no casualties reported on either side.
• The raid that reportedly led to the rocket fire occurred in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, in which Israeli forces executed a rare day-time operation to apprehend Palestinian militants allegedly hiding out in the old city.
• The situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has steadily worsened, with a Palestinian attack near an East Jerusalem synagogue in January killing seven Israelis, coming only a day after a similar Israeli raid in Jenin killed 10.
• Tensions have been building over the last year following a spree of Palestinian attacks in Israel that have led to an increased Israeli military response in the West Bank.

Sources: Reuters, BBC News, CNN , ITN, Guardian, and Associated Press.

Narratives

• Pro-Palestine, as provided by Al Jazeera. When Israel commits a massacre in the occupied West Bank, it's a security operation, but when Palestinians retaliate, it's terrorism. The resistance to the occupation is expanding across the West Bank, and Israeli actions like this only harden the resolve of the Palestinian people. Emboldened by international silence after killing more Palestinians last year than in any other calendar year since the Second Intifada, it's Israel that's becoming even more violent.
• Pro-Israel, as provided by Times of Israel. These airstrikes show that Israel's defense establishment is prepared to take any action needed to ensure peace for its citizens. Though such a response to Wednesday's Nablus raid was already anticipated, connecting events in Gaza and the West Bank is a dangerous precedent that threatens the very existence of the state of Israel. Israel will always defend itself.

Predictions