Gaza Tensions Mount After Suicide Bombing
The conflict in Gaza heated up again Tuesday in response to a suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Dimona on Monday.
Israel killed nine Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip, while Palestinians fired heavy barrages of rockets at southern Israel that moderately wounded a 14-year-old girl and lightly wounded several other civilians.
Tuesday’s rocket barrages were the heaviest since Hamas breached the border with Egypt two weeks ago. The Israel Defense Forces believes that should the escalation continue, a large-scale ground operation in Gaza will become more likely.
Egypt warned Hamas Tuesday against causing any further provocations on the Gaza border, one day after clashes between Palestinians and Egyptian border police erupted.
“It is important that the Hamas leadership in Gaza adopts wisdom so as to discourage Palestinian masses from going close to the border with Egypt,” the country’s foreign minister, Ahmed Abul-Gheit, said.
Hamas militants blew holes in the border on January 23, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to circumvent a tight Israeli blockade and stock up on supplies in Egypt.
The border remained breached for almost 12 days, and Israel fears Palestinian militants exploited the opportunity to infiltrate its own territory via Egypt.
The Dimona suicide bomber does not appear to have come through Egypt. Hamas on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was carried out by two operatives from Hebron.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO