Israel declares ‘Forceful response’ to Gaza rocket strike

“There has been a criminal attack on the State of Israel and we will respond forcefully…in a few hours I will meet with President Trump. I will return to Israel immediately afterward.”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was brief and precise in his response to a rocket strike fired on Monday towards Tel Aviv from Gaza, injuring seven.

Netanyahu, in Washington to meet President Donald Trump, held emergency consultations with military officials back in Israel and decided to cut his visit short, cancelling a planned address to the AIPAC conference and meetings with congressional leaders.  

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday’s incident. Al Jazeera reached out to Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip but received no response.

Witnesses in Gaza told AP news agency they saw Hamas officials evacuating government premises, anticipating an Israeli response to the alleged attack.

Hamas also announced that its Gaza chief, Yehiya Sinwar, had cancelled a scheduled public speech. Israel also shut down its main cargo crossing into Gaza.

Monday’s attack came 10 days after rockets were fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv.

The Israeli military at the time struck back and the sides appeared to be hurtling towards another confrontation. But Gaza’s Hamas leaders said the rocket was fired accidently and calm was quickly restored.

Dire economic situation

Gaza has been under control of Hamas since 2007. The group won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections a year before, but western governments refused to recognise their win.

In June 2007, Hamas fought against a preemptive coup by its rival Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority, resulting in driving it out of the strip.

The same summer saw Israel and Egypt impose an ongoing land, naval and air blockade on the coastal enclave. Israel has also waged three offensives on Gaza since December 2008. The last such offensive was in 2014, in which more than 2,000 Palestinians – the majority of them civilians – were killed.

The 52-day war also severely damaged Gaza’s already weak infrastructure, leading the United Nations to state that the strip would be “uninhabitable” by 2020.

The blockade against Gaza, combined with sanctions by the rival Palestinian Authority, have fueled a dire economic crisis in the enclave. Recently, Hamas has come under rare public criticism for the harsh conditions in the territory.

The latest outburst comes at a sensitive time for both sides. Israel is holding national elections in 15 days.

Netanyahu, who also served as defence minister, is locked in a tight fight for re-election and has faced heavy criticism from his opponents for what they say has been an ineffective response to armed groups in Gaza.

Egypt, Qatar and United Nations are trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas but that effort has yet to bring about an agreement.

At the same time, there has been an uptick in violence in the West Bank over the past week, with Israel killing two Palestinians it said attacked its troops.