US backs Israel's 'right to self defense' after rocket attacks

The United States condemns Gaza militants' rocket attacks on Israel and backs the Jewish state's right to self-defense, the State Department said Saturday.

Militants on Saturday fired some 250 rockets at Israel, which hit back with air strikes that left multiple people dead.

A plume of smoke billows above buildings during an Israeli airstike on Gaza City on May 4, 2019. Gaza militants fired a barrage of rockets at Israel, which responded with airstrikes, officials said, as a fragile ceasefire again faltered. [Photo: AFP]

"The United States strongly condemns the ongoing barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Gaza upon innocent civilians and their communities across Israel. We call on those responsible for the violence to cease this aggression immediately," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

"We stand with Israel and fully support its right to self defense against these abhorrent attacks."