Israel strikes Lebanon and Gaza after rocket fire in major escalation

Israel launches air strikes in retaliation against rockets allegedly fired by Hamas

Israel launched air strikes on Lebanon and Gaza on Friday targeting militant group Hamas in retaliation against a barrage of cross-border rockets fired from Lebanon.

Tensions soared between Israel and the Palestinians after Israeli police raided Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, the Al-Aqsa mosque, earlier this week.

The mosque is considered the third holiest site in Islam.

Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets early Thursday as violence continued for the second day in a row during the overlapping holidays of Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed Hamas would “pay the price for any act of aggression”.

Loud blasts rocked several areas of the Gaza strip overnight into Friday morning, as Israel said its jets hit targets including two tunnels and two weapons manufacturing sites belonging to Hamas, which controls the blockaded southern coastal strip.

The Israeli military said it had also struck “terrorist infrastructures” belonging to the Hamas targets in southern Lebanon, where residents around the area of the Rashidiyeh refugee camp near the southern city of Tyre reportedly heard three loud blasts.

Israel said it responded with strikes to the “security violations of Hamas during the last few days”.

“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will not allow the Hamas terrorist organisation to operate from within Lebanon and hold the state of Lebanon responsible for every directed fire emanating from its territory,” the military tweeted.

Hamas in a statement said it strongly condemned “the blatant Zionist aggression against Lebanon in the vicinity of Tyre at dawn today”.

A man holds shrapnel in a crater left by a rocket following Israeli air strikes in Al Qulaylah (AFP via Getty Images)

The Islamist group had earlier said that Israel was “responsible for this aggression and its consequences” and called for all Palestinian groups to unite against “the occupation”.

Lebanese security sources told Reuters that the strike hit a small structure on farmland near the area from which the rockets had been launched earlier. The strike appeared to have left a large crater in farmland in the south, a witness said.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said 34 rockets were fired from Lebanese territory in the largest escalation along the frontier in 17 years. The military said 25 rockets were intercepted by air defence systems.

It was the biggest such attack since 2006, when Israel fought a war with the heavily armed Hezbollah movement.

In retaliation, Israel stepped up air strikes in Gaza, with around 20 missiles striking four new sites in 10 minutes.

Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh was visiting Lebanon when the strikes took place, although the group reportedly claimed it had no information about who fired the missiles from Lebanon.

Lebanon's prime minister Najib Mikati in a statement condemned any military operations from its territory that threatened stability.

Earlier on Thursday, before the rockets were fired, senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safieddine said any infringement on Al-Aqsa "will inflame the entire region".

The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said it had been in contact with the parties and said both sides had said they did not seek war but it said the situation risked escalation.

"We urge all parties to cease all actions across the Blue Line now," the Unifil said, referring to the frontier demarcation between the two countries.