The Al-Aqsa Brigades said it fired a missile toward the Mishmar HaNegev kibbutz in response to “the assassination that took place today.” It was only the group’s initial response, a statement said.
Residents said that "Israeli" tanks and warplanes fired on the Zeitoun area of Gaza City on Thursday evening. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage caused by either attack in Gaza or the Negev.
The escalation came after an "Israeli airstrike" killed two people in the central Gaza Strip. Two more were injured in the explosion, which witnesses said hit a parked car near Omar al-Mukhtar street.
A Ma’an reporter named those killed as Issam Subhi al-Batsh and Subhi Alaa al-Batsh.
Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Bridges said in a statement it was mourning its operative Subhi Alaa al-Batsh, and the Ayman Juda Brigades, an Aqsa sub-division, said Issam Subhi al-Batsh was one of its members.
The "Israeli" army said it targeted al-Batsh and another person, who were “both affiliated with a terrorist squad that intended to execute a terrorist attack against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers via the western border.”
Hamas, meanwhile, demanded that "Israel" cease the attacks and added that Israel’s leader should be tried for war crimes, a spokesman for the group, Fawzi Barhoum, said in a statement.
Barhoum said “the enemy wants to export its internal and external crises to Gaza, and it wants to impose a new formula on the resistance after it won in the prisoner’s deal.”
He said "Israel" holds “full responsibility for today’s crime,” and demanded that the Arab League and the international community intervene to stop attacks on the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Noting that Arab League gave no stance !!!
A spokesman for the Gaza government, Taher al-Nunu, also condemned the bombing and expressed concern about a series of threats made by "Israel" in the lead up to the strike.
Al-Nunu called on Egypt and the UN to intervene as soon as possible.