Gaza militants fire rocket after Israeli raid in Jenin kills six

Militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket and detonated an explosive on Wednesday, Israel said, hours after its soldiers killed six Palestinians in a raid in Jenin.

Those who died in the Israeli operation in the flashpoint West Bank town on Tuesday included a man suspected of shooting two Jewish brothers near Huwara last week. The raid left 26 wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday congratulated the commanders of the Jenin raid, saying it was an “exceptional intelligence and operational achievement”.

“By your actions, you are sending a clear and sharp message to all who are thinking about murdering an Israeli citizen: we will settle accounts with you,” he said.

Israeli security forces named 49-year-old Abdul Fattah Kharushah as a Hamas militant who killed the Israeli brothers in Huwara.

Hamas issued a statement identifying Kharushah as a member.

Hamas’s Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades called for further escalation of “armed resistance in the face of the occupation and its usurpers” in response to the latest developments.

On Wednesday afternoon, Israel’s military said an explosive device detonated near troops operating on Gaza’s border.

No Israeli casualties were reported. Palestinian reports said two Hamas militants were lightly injured after Israeli forces responded to the explosion with artillery fire.

Israeli forces were carrying out an engineering operation near the Gaza security barrier.

The military released a statement saying “[Israeli] tanks struck a military post belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation in the southern Gaza Strip.

Farmers were told to temporarily leave the area.

The attack is the latest case of fighting in the West Bank following a deadly rampage by Israeli settlers a little more than a week ago in Huwara, outside Nablus.

During the attack, hundreds of Israelis set fire to Palestinian homes and businesses, resulting in the death of one Palestinian and about a dozen injuries.

Calls for de-escalation

The UAE has condemned the continued Israeli raids in the Jenin camp.

In a statement on Wednesday, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation called on Israeli authorities to stop escalation and not take steps that exacerbate tension and instability in the region.

The ministry stressed the need to support all regional and international efforts to push forward the peace process in the Middle East.

It also called for an end to the illegitimate practices that threaten the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

On Wednesday, Jordan condemned Israel's killing of six people in the raid on the West Bank, calling it an escalation against the Palestinians, less than two weeks after a meeting between the two sides convened in the kingdom to reduce the violence.

Foreign ministry spokesman Sinan Al Majali said “continued Israeli aggression” on occupied Palestinian territory would “lead to more deterioration and expanding the torrent of violence, and undermine the efforts for reaching calm”.

“Immediate actions are needed to halt unilateral steps and protect the [possibility of] the two-state solution, and stopping all these illegal and illegitimate Israeli campaigns and measures”, he said.

On February 26, Jordan hosted a meeting between security officials from Israel and the Palestinian authority in the city of Aqaba, which committed the two sides to “de-escalate and prevent further violence”. Officials from the US, Jordan and Egypt also attended.

Jordan portrayed the meeting as a prelude to a possible breakthrough in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Tor Wennesland, the UN Middle East peace envoy, also urged Israel and the Palestinians to calm surging violence in the occupied West Bank.

“We are in the midst of a cycle of violence that must be stopped immediately”, he said.

“The Security Council has spoken with one voice, calling on the parties to observe calm and restraint, and to refrain from provocative actions, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric."

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to arrive in Israel on Wednesday for a two-day visit as part of his Middle East tour, before visiting Jordan. He made an unannounced stop in Iraq on Tuesday. He is expected to visit Egypt after Israel.

In Israel, Mr Austin is expected to raise concerns about the surge in violence in the occupied West Bank.

He will discuss diplomatic efforts to reduce tension before Ramadan and Passover, US officials said.