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Israeli army strikes Gaza targets in response to rocket fire

Russia is deeply concerned about the rising tensions and escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories and Israel, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Monday.

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Palestinians want to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, partially occupied by Israel, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and want Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it took after the Six-Day War in 1967.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck several targets in the Gaza Strip late Monday, after rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled enclave towards southern Israel earlier in the evening. There were no injuries and no obvious damage.

Code Red sirens sounded in communities on the Gaza border before the rocket landed in an open area.

A group of militants from Gaza affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility.

The intensity and extent of unrest in the Palestinian West Bank is increasingly high and has been making the Israeli regime more confused than ever.

An Israeli soldier stabbed in one of the attacks was in critical condition with injuries to the neck and upper body.

While most of the stabbings and other attacks that have killed 11 Israelis were carried out by Palestinians acting on their own accord, rather than with political backing, Hamas wants to tap into the popular anger to bolster its cause. A Palestinian stabbed him at a roadblock near Hebron, the Israeli military said.

Attacks this month have amounted to the worst spell of street violence in years.

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The Hamas official praised the role of social media in promoting attacks on Israelis. Fifty-five Palestinians have been killed, including 35 identified by Israel as attackers and the rest in clashes with security forces.

Bassem Eid