Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the mayors of the towns adjacent to the Gaza Strip, are you ready for the possibility of expanding the operation and delivering strong strikes against Gaza, in an indication of a potential escalation in the tense situation between Israel and the Palestinians.

Many Palestinians were killed today, Wednesday, in renewed Israeli air strikes on Gaza following the killing of 15 Palestinians and targeting of the "Islamic Jihad" movement, according to the Israeli army and the Ministry of Health in the besieged Palestinian sector.

The Israeli occupation army confirmed that it "is currently bombing the rocket-launching infrastructure of the Islamic Jihad organization in the Gaza Strip," pointing out that the strikes target sites in the "northern and southern parts" of the sector.

For its part, the Palestinian Hamas movement broke its silence as its spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanoua commented today, Wednesday 10/5/2023, on the start of the Palestinian response to the Israeli aggression, according to his expression.

Al-Qanoua said the united resistance strikes are part of the response operation to the massacre committed by the Zionist occupation and come within the framework of defending our Palestinian people.

Al-Qanoua added, "The resistance's response is a duty and constant against every aggression; it is united on the ground and strongly present to deter the occupation and will not allow it to pass its agendas or export its crises."

He continued: The occupation's aggression will be shattered before the unity of the Palestinian resistance and the steadfastness of our people, and it is no longer able to change the equations or impose a new reality.

Reporters monitored air raids over northern Gaza City amid rising smoke.

According to the Israeli army, the bombing targeted activists "who were on their way to a rocket launch site in Khan Younis city" south of the Gaza Strip.

Achieved its goals

At least 15 Palestinians were killed yesterday, Tuesday, including three of the most prominent military leaders of the "Islamic Jihad" movement, in addition to four children, in a series of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli occupation army said that 40 planes participated in the Israeli air raids that "achieved their goals" by killing the three targeted leaders, who are considered among the top planners of the movement and were involved in operations targeting Israelis recently.

It is worth mentioning that at least 126 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of this year, as well as 19 Israelis, an Ukrainian woman, and one Italian in violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a count put together by the French Press Agency based on official Israeli and Palestinian sources.

Alarm sirens blare

The Israeli army said that alarm sirens sounded inside the Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip today, Wednesday, to warn of factions in Gaza launching rockets.

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation reported that interception systems near the city of Ashkelon shot down rockets launched from the sector.

Also, armed Palestinian factions launched tens of rockets on Wednesday on towns in southern Israel following the killing of 16 Palestinians in an Israeli raid on the sector.

Reporters witnessed dozens of rockets launched from the north and east of Gaza City, while the Israeli army confirmed in a statement the sounding of alarm sirens in the towns adjacent to the border of the sector including Sderot and Ashkelon.

Alarm sirens sounded in the Tel Aviv area today, Wednesday, according to a reporter for "France Press" after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

A senior Israeli military official said that more than 60 rockets were fired within 45 minutes from Gaza after new Israeli air raids on the sector.