Mediation efforts under way as UN representative arrives in Gaza

Mediation efforts are under way by Egypt and the United Nations to calm the situation in Gaza Strip , Reuters has reported.

UN Middle East envoy Wennesland arrived in Gaza to meet Hamas leaders in an effort to calm the situation, a diplomatic source told Reuters.

"I am continuing my engagement with all concerned parties to de-escalate the situation. I urge all sides to refrain from steps that could further enflame an already volatile situation," Wennesland said in a statement before the visit.

A Palestinian official said leaders from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad warned mediators, including Egypt, the situation could slide into an "open confrontation" if there was no change.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment.

Israeli forces bombed the Gaza Strip after Palestinian fighters launched several rockets from the besieged coastal enclave amid tensions over an Israeli raid that killed at least 11 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

The attacks early on Thursday (23 February) sent plumes of black smoke rising over one of the targeted locations north of Gaza city. There were no immediate reports of casualties, reports Al Jazeera. 

Hours earlier, rockets fired from the Gaza Strip lit up the night sky and triggered sirens in the Israeli cities of Sderot and Ashkelon.

Palestinian witnesses said they saw at least eight rockets fired, while the Israeli military put the number of projectiles at six.

No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the rockets fired hours earlier from the Gaza Strip, which triggered sirens in the Israeli cities of Sderot and Ashkelon.

The Nablus raid was one of the deadliest Israeli operations in the occupied West Bank since the second Intifada or the Palestinian uprising of 2000-2005.

The death toll on Wednesday surpassed that of an Israeli attack last month in the city of Jenin, further north.

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the start of 2023 has now risen to 61 people, including 13 children.

Israel stepped up its military raids, arrests and killings in Palestinian cities and villages in the occupied West Bank from June 2021, following a popular Palestinian uprising known as the "May outburst" that swept Israel and the Palestinian territories it has illegally occupied since 1967.