Palestinian witnesses and media sources have confirmed that a young Palestinian woman from Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip has blown herself up in an attack against Israeli soldiers in the area. The woman was instantly killed, and, according to Israeli military sources, one soldier was critically wounded.

The woman, Mirvat Mas’oud, marched towards a group of Israeli soldiers wearing a jacket, and then detonated the explosives.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing, Al-Quds Brigades, took responsibility for the attack, and stated that it comes in retaliation to Israel’s “…ongoing crimes against civilians in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip” in the past five days, which have claimed the lives of nearly 60 Palestinians, and the injury of 300.

Palestinian witnesses present in the area also confirmed that immediately following the attack, large numbers of Israeli troops rushed to the scene and began to randomly fire at nearby Palestinian homes; they also raided the homes and carried out a wave of searches for suspected “militants.”