Plumes of smoke billowed over the Gazan skyline and on the ground, hundreds of rescuers
In the bloodiest rise in hostilities in the region since an 11-day conflict last year, Israeli airstrikes on sites in the Gaza Strip on Friday resulted in the deaths of seven Palestinians, including a senior commander of a Palestinian terrorist group.
According to the Gaza health ministry, the attacks targeted both militant watchtowers and residential homes, killing at least 10 civilians, including a 5-year-old child, and injuring 55 others. According to both Islamic Jihad and the Israeli military, Taysir al-Jabari, a top military leader in Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant organization in Gaza, was killed in one airstrike.
Following the arrest of one of its members earlier this week, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) allegedly made “an instant threat,” according to Israel’s prime minister. In “an initial response,” the PIJ launched more than 100 rockets into Israel. The Iron Dome missile defense system in Israel stopped the majority of them. Many Israeli cities heard the sound of sirens. Targeting militant sites, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it then continued strikes late on Friday.
Israel said that Islamic Jihad was prepared to launch a retaliation attack and that it had preemptively targeted Mr. al-Jabari and other individuals. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid declared shortly after the incident that Israel “would not allow the terrorist organizations to define the agenda in the Gaza Strip and imperil the civilians of the State of Israel.”
Following the airstrikes, Islamic Jihad vowed to retaliate violently, and southern Israeli cities opened bomb shelters in preparation for rocket fire from Gaza. An Islamic Jihad statement read, “The enemy has launched a war targeting our people, and we all need to defend ourselves and our people.” Numerous missiles were launched into Israeli airspace by Palestinian insurgents hours later; Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. There were no right away reports of injuries or damage.
Bassem Saadi, who is said to be the PIJ’s regional director in the West Bank, was detained by Israel on Monday night. As part of ongoing arrest operations following a spate of attacks by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians that left 17 Israelis and two Ukrainians dead, he was being held in the Jenin area. Two of the attackers were from the neighborhood of Jenin.
