Israeli strikes hit Gaza; Palestinian teen killed in Nablus
SMA NEWS – GAZA
Israeli warplanes struck targets in Gaza overnight, drawing machine-gun fire from Hamas in the heaviest cross-border fighting since an 11-day war in May. In the occupied West Bank, officials said a Palestinian teen was killed in a clash with the Israeli military.
Palestinian authorities said the 15-year-old boy died after being shot in the head during clashes with soldiers in the city of Nablus. The Israeli military said soldiers were carrying out an arrest raid in the Balata refugee camp when they came under fire from nearby rooftops.
The military said large stone blocks were thrown at the troops, and that soldiers opened fire at a person they said was about to drop a large object on them. It was unclear whether the teen, identified as Imad Hashash, was the same person.
The Israeli military said a series of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight hit a Hamas weapons manufacturing site, a tunnel and an underground rocket launch site. The army said it struck an additional militant tunnel after Hamas fired machine guns across the border.
The violence came as cease-fire talks brokered by Egypt continued to deteriorate. It also threatened to overshadow Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s visit this week to the United States, his first diplomatic trip abroad since talking office in May.
