The United States said Israel has the right to defend itself against Palestinian rocket attacks but praised the Jewish state for its “great restraint” in recent days. Hamas, engaged in an internecine struggle with Fatah in the Gaza Strip, has fired dozens of rockets into the southern Israeli town of Sderot and the western Negev since Tuesday. Israel has responded in the last two days with a series of air strikes in Gaza that have killed nine and wounded dozens. “Israel has the right to defend itself, and it has exercised great restraint in the face of these rocket attacks” by Hamas, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Thursday, according to Reuters.
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