Yesterday, the Israeli army launched raids on military positions in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, the Israeli army announced, and the Israeli warplanes bombed a position of the Popular Front-General Command in Qusaya area in eastern Lebanon near the Syrian border. The Israeli government has set up 300 new housing units in the West Bank, while Lebanese President Michel Aoun saw Israeli attacks on the southern suburbs and a border town as a declaration of war, allowing his country to defend itself.
In detail, local Palestinian sources reported that the raids targeted at least one missile at a military site in the town of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip, before Israeli warplanes targeted the same site with four rockets.
The sources said that the Israeli bombing caused violent explosions rocked throughout the northern Gaza Strip.
This comes after the Israeli army said that the missile system intercepted two of the three shells fired from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel. Israeli sources said that the third shell landed on a street in a settlement near Gaza without causing any injuries.
It was not immediately clear who fired the shells from Gaza.
The Israeli authorities announced punitive action to reduce the introduction of fuel into the main power plant in the Gaza Strip, which means a significant reduction in power supply.
Israel announced yesterday that it is building 300 new housing units in the settlement of Dolb, located on the lands of the Palestinian village of Janiya west of Ramallah, 40 kilometers northwest of Jerusalem, in response to the process that killed the settlement less than a week ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had given instructions to set up a new neighborhood in the settlement, which would include 300 new homes in Dolp.
"We will strengthen our roots and strike at our enemies," he said. "We will continue to strengthen and develop settlements."
Netanyahu had pledged earlier to maintain the settlements of the occupied West Bank, in a letter to reassure settlers, before the early legislative elections scheduled for September.
It is noteworthy that the Israeli «Peace Now» reported in mid-May that Israel has built about 20,000 new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank since Netanyahu took office in 2009.
On the other hand, the PLO called yesterday for international accountability for Israel to escalate its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
"The insane settlement escalation, which continues to devour the territory of the state of Palestine, reflects the opportunist colonial mentality of warlord Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government," Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the organization's executive committee, said in a statement.
Ashrawi denounced Netanyahu's decision to build a 300-unit neighborhood in the Dolev settlement in Ramallah and to hand over notices to build 120 settlement units in Salfit in the West Bank.
`` The corrupt Netanyahu proves that his election campaign, armed with his extremist populist approach, has no limits, and that in order to reach his goal, he will fight wars and ignite the whole region.He is now in the context of the election race, offering sacrifices to extremist settlers to win their votes and continue to steal our land and resources and seize them. ''
She added that «this colonial behavior is upward and systematic since the establishment of the occupying power and is based mainly on the policy of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement and theft of land, resources and property, and the challenge of international law and resolutions of international legitimacy with the support of the US absolute political, legal and financial».
The Palestinian official stressed that it is time to impose sanctions on Israel and hold it accountable for its deliberate violation of international resolutions and laws and for humanitarian principles and values.
In Beirut, the National News Agency reported that «three hostile raids targeted the eastern Lebanon mountain range opposite the outskirts of the town of Qusaya, west of Zahle, where military positions of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, led by Ahmed Jibril».
For his part, President Michel Aoun considered the Israeli attacks as a declaration of war, allowing his country to defend itself.
"What happened is a declaration of war that allows us to resort to our right to defend our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," Aoun said in a tweet on Twitter.
Aoun added that «the attack on the southern suburbs, as well as on the area of Qusaya on the Lebanese-Syrian border violates the first paragraph of Security Council resolution 1701, and what applies to Lebanon in the provisions of this resolution should apply to Israel as well».
He continued: «I have reiterated before you that Lebanon will not fire any single shot from the border unless it is in self-defense, and what happened yesterday allows us to exercise this right».
The PLO called for international accountability for Israel to step up its settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.