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July 5 (UPI) -- Israeli warplanes attacked two Hamas military targets in Gaza overnight Tuesday as the Israel Defense Forces was withdrawing its troops from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin following a two-day anti-terrorism operation. The Israel Defense Forces announced early Wednesday that the airstrikes hit an underground weapons manufacturing facility and a rocket-manufacturing facility in response to rockets launched toward Israel from the Palestinian enclave.
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"This attack constitutes an injury to the ability of the terrorist organization Hamas to strengthen and arm itself," the IDF said in a statement. "The terrorist organization Hamas bears responsibility for what is happening in the Gaza Strip and is the one who will pay for the security violations against the State of Israel."
The IDF had hours earlier said that five launches from Gaza toward Israel had been detected and were successfully intercepted by Iron Dome Aerial Defense System.
The Gaza launches had activated sirens that blared through the city of Sderot and the surrounding southern Israel area.
The exchange occurred as military officials said all security forces had left a refugee camp home to thousands in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin that the IDF had attacked in a 48-hour "extensive counterterrorism" operation that began early Monday.
Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the head of the Arab media division of the IDF spokesperson's unit, confirmed the withdrawal on Twitter at about the same time the IDF announced the attack on Gaza.
"During the operation, hundreds of suspects were interrogated, and dozens were arrested," Adraee said in a statement. "The forces also found, confiscated and detonated thousands of weapons, including explosive devices, weapons parts, explosives laboratories and ammunition."
A list published by the IDF states that as of 7 p.m. Tuesday, 14 hideouts and operational situation rooms, six explosives manufacturing facilities with over 300 explosives, 24 rifles, M16 rifles and hundreds of bullets were found along with hundreds of thousands of "terror funds," dozens of kilograms of chemical materials used to make bombs and six underground shafts.
Three-hundred people were questioned resulting in 30 apprehensions, it said.
Jenin, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, is where Israel has conducted a series of recent raids prior to the surprise operation and is home to a refugee camp of more than 10,000 people that has been framed as a center of Palestinian resistance.
The operation was launched at about 2 a.m. Monday as part of an effort to thwart terrorism coming from the occupied West Bank, according to a timeline of the operation's events published by the IDF.
At least eight Palestinians have been killed and 91 others injured amid the operation, according to Doctors Without Borders, which is among those condemning the attack on the refugee camp. The group called the raid the largest to occur within the occupied West Bank since 2002.
Known in French as Medecins Sans Frontieres, the organization also accused Israeli forces of firing tear gas canisters at Khalil Suleiman Hospital where dozens of those injured in the attack were receiving treatment. It said the IDF has also blocked all roads leading to the refugee camp despite patients inside in need of care.
Officials with the organization also chastised the Israeli forces for using attack helicopters and drone strikes in such a densely populated area.
"This is an unprecedentedly long military operation, and yet there are still victims that cannot be reached," Jovana Arsenijevic, MSF operations coordinator in Jenin, said in a statement. "Healthcare staff must be allowed to access patients unhindered."
Physicians for Human Rights Israel, a non-profit organization based in Jaffa, added that three hospitals were attacked amid the operation, severely damaging their operations. Among the attacks included weapons fired from within one of the facilities, a violation of international humanitarian law.
"In a further escalation, Israeli forces stormed Jenin's governmental hospital, firing tear gas and live bullets -- all while the hospital was overloaded with patients and staff," it said in a statement. "Five civilians were injured as a result, including three in serious condition."
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said they are aware of the reports but could not confirm them, and instead accused terrorists of hiding in civilian facilities since the military operation began.
He also refuted the allegation that they have been blocking emergency crews, stating the IDF allows "the movement of Palestinian medical forces in the area of the city and works to reduce harm to those not involved."
Hagari also announced that Sgt. David Yehuda Yitzchak, 23, was killed Tuesday night by live fire during the military operation.
Malaysia and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation have both condemned the Israeli attack.
The State of Palestine, which has accused Israel of committing war crimes, has identified some of those killed in the attack as students.
"The Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves from Israel's occupation and unrelenting aggression and protect their homes, lands and peoples," it said in a statement.
Israel has claimed ownership of the West Bank since 1967, though its occupation is widely regarded as illegal by the international community, including by the United Nations.
Doctors Without Borders said this year's death toll committed by Israeli forces in Jenin has been raised by the recent operation to 48.
