Israeli Air Strikes Hit Gaza Strip

Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave early Thursday © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave early Thursday © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
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Israeli Air Strikes Hit Gaza Strip

Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave early Thursday © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
Smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City as Israel launched air strikes on the Palestinian enclave early Thursday © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP

Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip early Thursday, which Palestinian fighters reacted to by firing rockets in the latest bout of unrest in the region.

The overnight attacks -- which Israel's army confirmed in a statement at 02:41 am (0041 GMT) -- come hours after the army intercepted a rocket fired from the Palestinian territory.

Emergency services reported no immediate casualties on either side.

According to local security sources and witnesses, the first round of strikes -- at least seven -- hit a training centre of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas. The center is in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

A statement by the Israeli army said fighter jets had "struck a production site for raw chemical material production, preservation and storage along with a weapon manufacturing site" belonging to Hamas.

The strikes came "in response to the rocket launch from the Gaza Strip into Israel earlier" Wednesday.

After the strikes, AFP reporters and witnesses saw new rounds of rockets fired from Gaza, and fresh explosions could be heard from Gaza City around 3:15 am (0115 GMT).

Warning sirens sounded in Sderot, a town in southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli army.



France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
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France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)

Paris declined to comment on Algeria’s “strong condemnation” of the French government’s decision to recognize Morocco’s claim over the Sahara.

The office of the French Foreign Ministry refused to respond to an AFP request for a comment on the Algeria’s stance.

It did say that further comments could impact the trip Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is set to make to France in late September or early October.

The visit has been postponed on numerous occasions over disagreements between the two countries.

France had explicitly expressed its constant and clear support for the autonomy rule proposal over the Sahara during Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s visit to Morocco in February, reported AFP.

The position has helped improve ties between Rabat and Paris.

On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Ministry expressed “great regret and strong denunciation" about the French government's decision to recognize an autonomy plan for the Western Sahara region "within Moroccan sovereignty”.

Algeria was informed of the decision by France in recent days, an Algerian foreign ministry statement added.

The ministry also said Algeria would draw all the consequences from the decision and hold the French government alone completely responsible.