Israel Airstrikes Kill Palestinians in Gaza Strip

Israel’s jet fighters have hit two Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said the targets were Hamas weapon manufacturing facilities, adding that the strikes were in response to two rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel.

A pregnant woman and her young daughter in a nearby house were killed, Palestinian officials said.

In the West Bank, Israeli police say a Palestinian woman set off a car bomb at a checkpoint.

The woman was stopped by police while driving on Sunday morning near the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.

She “shouted <<Allahu Akbar>> [God is great] and detonated an explosive device”, a police spokeswoman said, adding that the woman was in critical condition and a policeman was slightly wounded.

Initial reports had said the woman had died in the blast.

“The IDF holds Hamas responsible for any act of aggression from the Gaza Strip,” said Israel Defense Forces’ spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner in a statement following the airstrikes on October 11.

As well as the two reported deaths, medical staff in the Zeitun sector, south of Gaza City, say three people are trapped in the rubble of the destroyed house.

There have been weeks of tension over access to a site in East Jerusalem sacred to both Jews and Muslims.

Palestinians fear Israel plans to change arrangements at the al-Aqsa mosque/Temple Mount compound, where Jews are allowed to visit but not allowed to pray – something Israel insists it will continue.

Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed “deep concern” over the situation.

John Kerry made separate phone calls to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

In his phone calls earlier John Kerry “stressed the importance of upholding the status quo in word and deed” at the site, the state department said.

He offered his support in efforts to restore calm, but both men blamed the other side for the rising violence.

Benjamin Netanyahu “made it clear that he expects the PA [Palestinian Authority] to stop its wild and mendacious incitement, which is causing the current wave of terrorism”, his Twitter account said.

Mahmoud Abbas told John Kerry that Israel should stop settler “provocations”, which he said were carried out under Israeli army protection, his office said.