GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Feb 2, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Israeli 
warplanes struck Gaza early Thursday, drawing retaliatory rocket fire from 
Palestinian militants, as violence flared despite US calls for "urgent steps" 
to restore calm.

Israel said the pre-dawn strikes were in response to an earlier rocket launch 
and targeted military training camps used by Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.

A statement from the Israeli military said fighter jets had "struck a 
production site for raw chemical material production, preservation and 
storage along with a weapon manufacturing site" belonging to Hamas.

The strikes came "in response to the rocket launch from the Gaza Strip into 
Israel earlier" Wednesday.

"(Hamas) will face the consequences of the security violations against 
Israel," the army said on Twitter.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant vowed that Israel stood ready to respond to any 
attack.

"Every attempt to harm our citizens will be met with the full force of the 
IDF."

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem called the Israeli strikes "a continuation of 
the cycle of aggression against the Palestinian people".

He accused Israel of "opening the door to escalation on the ground".

During talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders earlier this week, US 
Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged both sides to prevent further 
bloodshed.

He expressed sorrow for "innocent" Palestinians killed in months of 
spiralling violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, warning that the 
Palestinian people faced "a shrinking horizon of hope".

- Escalating violence -

The US top diplomat's visit came after a deadly upsurge in violence in the 
West Bank last week.

A Palestinian shot dead seven people outside a synagogue in an Israeli 
settler neighbourhood of annexed east Jerusalem on Friday, a day after the 
deadliest army raid in years in the West Bank killed 10 Palestinians.

The synagogue attack on the Jewish Sabbath was the deadliest targeting 
Israeli civilians in more than a decade and was celebrated by many 
Palestinians in Gaza and across the West Bank.

Israel said its deadly raid on Jenin refugee camp targeted Islamic Jihad 
militants. An 11th Palestinian was killed elsewhere in the West Bank that 
day.

This year the conflict has killed 35 Palestinians -- including attackers, 
militants and civilians -- as well as the six Israeli civilians, including a 
child, and one Ukrainian, killed on Friday.

Last year was the deadliest year in the West Bank since the United Nations 
started tracking fatalities in the territory in 2005.

Some 235 people died in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last year, with 
nearly 90 percent of the deaths on the Palestinian side, according to AFP 
figures.

The Palestinian governor of Jericho on Wednesday accused Israel of putting 
the town under "siege" after a Saturday shooting at a restaurant, which had 
no casualties.

Jericho's ancient ruins have been a major tourism draw in the past.

"This is the fifth day of the siege on Jericho," governor Jihad Abu al-Assal 
told AFP.

Israel's army told AFP it had boosted its forces in the area and "inspections 
were increased at the city's entrances and exits".

An AFP correspondent said cars were backed up at entrances to the city, with 
checks to get in and out of the city often taking hours.

Islamic Jihad said it would send a delegation led by the militant group's 
leader Ziad al-Nakhala to Cairo on Thursday at Egypt's invitation.

The delegation would meet with the head of Egypt's intelligence service to 
discuss "how to restore calm, especially after the last escalation, including 
the aggressions against prisoners", said Daoud Shihab, a senior Islamic Jihad 
member in Gaza.