Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza continue day after deadly bombing

Israel hit Gaza in a second day of airstrikes, drawing retaliation from armed Palestinian groups, in the worst escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip since last year’s war.

Israeli planes continued to hit the besieged territory on Saturday, a day after the Palestinian Health Ministry said 10 people, including children, had been killed in the bombing.

Israel says it has launched a “preemptive” operation against Islamic Jihad groups. The Israeli military estimates that the operation killed 15 of his fighters in Gaza, including senior commanders.

Earlier on Saturday, Israel expanded its operations against Islamic Jihad. The Israeli army has announced the arrest of 19 of him and another of him who were allegedly members of a group in the occupied West Bank.

Both Israel and Islamic Jihad have confirmed that the main leader of the militant group, Taisir al-Jabari, was killed in Friday’s strike against a building in western Gaza City.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health also reported that “a five-year-old girl who had been targeted by the Israeli occupation” was among those killed on Friday.

Officials from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli attack. Civil Affairs Minister Hussein Al-Sheikh tweeted: “We call on the international community to intervene and protect our people.

Turkiye and Qatar strongly condemn Israeli airstrikes that have caused civilian casualties.

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Children and commanders among victims of Israeli attack on Gaza

spiral tension

Islamic Jihad said the first Israeli artillery strike amounted to a “declaration of war”, but fired rockets at Israel.

Rocket launches and Israeli attacks continued early on Saturday, threatening a repeat of the 11-day conflict in May 2021 that killed at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.

“Israel has no interest in the wider conflict in Gaza, but it will not hesitate to do so,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a nationally televised address on Friday.

Air raid sirens blared over southern Israel early Saturday morning, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage as many rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.

Officials in the border area urged people to stay near shelters that have also opened in Tel Aviv.

Egypt, a historic mediator between Israeli and Gaza groups, has begun mediating an end to the violence with the United Nations and Qatar.

The strike comes four days after Israel closed two border crossings with Gaza and restricted the movement of Israeli civilians living near the border, citing security concerns.

The action followed the arrest in the occupied West Bank of two senior members of the Islamic Jihad, including Bassem al-Saadi, whom Israel accused of orchestrating the latest attack.

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Condemnation floods after Israel launches deadly attack on besieged Gaza

Source: TRTWorld and institutions