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Gaza factions respond with rockets to UAE, Bahrain normalization with Israel

Israel retaliates with airstrikes as Palestinian armed groups in Gaza reject normalization and weigh their next moves.

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Smoke and flames are seen following an Israeli airstrike in the Khan Yunis town of the southern Gaza Strip on September 16, 2020. Israel bombed sites in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, Palestinian security sources said, after rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory into Israel the previous evening. The retaliatory attack came the morning after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed a landmark accord in Washington establishing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. — SAID KHATIB/AFP via Getty Images

While Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were signing agreements to normalize relations with Israel in Washington Sept. 15, Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip fired long-range rockets over southern Israeli cities, wounding 13 Israelis, one of whom suffered serious injuries, and causing material damage. No faction claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.

A few hours after the incident, in the early hours of Sept. 16, the Israeli army launched 10 airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, targeting a weapons and explosives factory and a complex used by Hamas for training and rocket testing.

Factions responded by firing 15 rockets toward southern Israeli settlements.

On the same day, Sept. 16, the Israelis accused, once again, Hamas of being responsible for what has been happening in Gaza.

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