JERUSALEM -- Gaza militants fired rockets and Israel carried out airstrikes early today as tensions soared after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank that killed nine Palestinians, including at least seven militants and a 61-year-old woman.
It was the deadliest single raid in the territory in over two decades. The flare-up in violence poses an early test for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government and casts a shadow on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's expected trip to the region next week.
Palestinian militants fired five rockets at Israel, the military said. Three were intercepted, one fell in an open area and another fell short inside Gaza. Israel carried out a series of airstrikes at what it said were militant targets. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Thursday's deadly raid in the Jenin refugee camp was likely to reverberate today as Palestinians gather for weekly Muslim prayers that are often followed by protests. Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, had earlier threatened revenge for the raid.
Raising the stakes, the Palestinian Authority said it would halt the ties that its security forces maintain with Israel in a shared effort to contain Islamic militants. Previous threats have been short-lived, in part because of the benefits the authority enjoys from the relationship and also due to U.S. and Israeli pressure to maintain it.
The Palestinian Authority already has limited control over scattered enclaves in the West Bank, and almost none over militant strongholds like the Jenin camp. But the announcement could pave the way for Israel to step up operations it says are needed to prevent attacks.
The Israeli strikes early today targeted training sites for Palestinian militant groups, the military said. Witnesses and local media reported that Israeli drones fired two missiles at a Hamas militant base before fighter jets struck it, causing four large explosions.
Air raid sirens went off in southern Israel as the initial two rockets were fired and then again after the airstrikes, when the militants fired the other three rockets.
On Thursday, Israeli forces went on heightened alert as Palestinians filled the streets across the West Bank, chanting in solidarity with Jenin. President Mahmoud Abbas declared three days of mourning, and in the refugee camp, residents dug a mass grave for the dead.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Abbas had decided to cut security coordination in "light of the repeated aggression against our people." He also said the Palestinians planned to file complaints with the U.N. Security Council, International Criminal Court and other international bodies.
Thursday's gunbattle that left nine dead and 20 wounded broke out when Israel's military conducted a rare daytime operation in the Jenin camp that it said was meant to prevent an imminent attack on Israelis. The camp, where the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group has a major foothold, has been a focus of near-nightly Israeli arrest raids.
Hamas' armed wing claimed four of the dead as members, while Islamic Jihad claimed three others. An earlier statement from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia loosely affiliated with Abbas' secular Fatah party, claimed one of the dead was a fighter named Izz al-Din Salahat, but it was unclear if he was among those seven militants.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the 61-year-old woman killed as Magda Obaid, and the Israeli military said it was looking into reports of her death.
The Israeli military circulated aerial video it said was taken during the battle, showing what appeared to be Palestinians on rooftops hurling stones and firebombs on Israeli forces below. At least one Palestinian can be seen opening fire from a rooftop.
Later in the day, Israeli forces fatally shot a 22-year-old and wounded two others, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as Palestinians confronted Israeli troops north of Jerusalem to protest Thursday's raid. Israel's paramilitary Border Police said they opened fire on Palestinians who launched fireworks at them from close range.
The raid left a trail of destruction in Jenin. A two-story building, apparently the operation's target, was a charred wreck. The military said it entered the building to detonate explosives.
Palestinian Health Minister May Al-Kaila said paramedics struggled to reach the wounded during the fighting, while Akram Rajoub, the governor of Jenin, said the military prevented emergency workers from evacuating them.
Both accused the military of firing tear gas at the pediatric ward of a hospital, causing children to choke. Video at the hospital showed women carrying children into a corridor.
The military said forces closed roads to aid the operation, which may have complicated rescue efforts, and that tear gas had likely wafted into the hospital from nearby clashes.
The Israeli rights group B'Tselem said Thursday marked the single bloodiest West Bank incursion since 2002, at the height of an intense wave of violence known as the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, which left scars still visible in Jenin.
Infromation for this article was contributed by Tia Goldenberg, Areej Hazboun, Jon Gambrell, Suzan Fraser and Fares Akram of The Associated Press.
Palestinians clash with Israeli forces following an army raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days in months of unrest. The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest a militant grouping linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has major foothold in the camp. A gun battle erupted, during which the military said it was targeting militants involved in planning and carrying out attacks on Israelis. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A masked Palestinian demonstrator burns tires in a protest against a deadly Israeli army raid at Aida Refugee camp, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. During the raid in the West Bank town of Jenin, Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days of fighting in years. The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest militants when a gun battle erupted. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinians clash with Israeli forces following an army raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days in months of unrest. The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest a militant grouping linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has major foothold in the camp. A gun battle erupted, during which the military said it was targeting militants involved in planning and carrying out attacks on Israelis. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Mourners carry the bodies of eight Palestinians, some draped in the flag of the Islamic Jihad militant group, during a joint funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in the flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days of fighting in years. The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest militants when a gun battle erupted. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinian rescuers inspect the site of a damaged building following an Israeli forces raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in the flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days of fighting in years. The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest militants when a gun battle erupted. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian woman, identified as Magda Obaid, 60, during her funeral in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including the Palestinian woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, in one of the deadliest days in months of unrest. The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest a militant grouping linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has a major foothold in the camp. A gun battle erupted, during which the military said it was targeting militants involved in planning and carrying out attacks on Israelis. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli military vehicles are seen during an army raid in the West Bank city of Jenin, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Israeli forces killed at least nine Palestinians, including a 60-year-old woman, and wounded several others during a raid in a flashpoint area of the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, in one of the deadliest days in months of unrest. The Israeli military said it was conducting an operation to arrest a militant grouping linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has major foothold in the camp. A gun battle erupted, during which the military said it was targeting militants involved in planning and carrying out attacks on Israelis. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Mourners carry the body of a Palestinian woman, identified as Magda Obaid, 60, during her funeral on Thursday. (AP/Majdi Mohammed)
A Palestinian waves the national flag during a protest against an Israeli military raid Thursday in the West Bank city of Jenin, along the border fence with Israel, in east of Gaza City. (AP/Fatima Shbair)
Palestinian demonstrators burn tires Thursday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem to protest a deadly Israeli raid at the Aida refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin, where troops killed at least nine Palestinians while trying to arrest militants. After the raid, Gaza militants fired five rockets into Israel, and Israel responded with airstrikes. More photos at arkansasonline.com/127jenin/. (AP/Mahmoud Illean)Gallery: Aftermath of gun battle in Middle East
