Israel is now bracing for retaliation from militant groups in Gaza, with communities within 40 kilometers of Gaza being urged to remain near designated bomb shelters and schools, beaches, and highways closed in southern Israel.
Israel’s airstrikes have killed 13 Palestinians, including three senior commanders of the militant group, Islamic Jihad.
Muhammad Abu Salmiya, Director of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, six women and four children were among the dead.
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, who is in Delhi on a diplomatic visit, said he would return to Israel after receiving a “security update” on events at home.
Israel is now bracing for retaliation from militant groups in Gaza, with communities within 40 kilometers of Gaza being urged to remain near designated bomb shelters and schools, beaches, and highways closed in southern Israel.
According to the military, the three commanders killed were responsible for recent rocket fire toward Israel.
It named them as Khalil Bahtini, the Islamic Jihad commander for the northern Gaza Strip; Tareq Izzeldeen, the group’s liaison between Gaza and the West Bank; and Jehad Ghanam, the secretary of the Islamic Jihad’s military council.
The three were confirmed dead by the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad, which is smaller than Gaza’s ruling Hamas group. Their funerals are scheduled for later in the day.
On May 9, 2023, a Palestinian youth inspected the heavily damaged house of Islamic Jihad leader Jihad Ghannam, who was killed in a pre-dawn Israeli air strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.
Response To Islamic Jihad Terrorists
The Gaza health ministry said 20 people were injured in the strikes and warned that the death toll could rise.
“Ambulance crews are still continuing to evacuate victims from areas targeted by the occupation,” Israel’s Ministry of Health said.
While the Israel Defense Force (IDF) maintained that the pre-dawn airstrikes were a “response to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation’s incessant aggression,” it admitted that it was “aware of some collateral damage”.
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“If there were some tragic deaths, we’ll look into it and get back to you,” IDF spokesman Lt Col Richard Hecht said, referring to the three militants as “kingpin terrorists.”
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, has warned that Israel will “pay the price” for the killings. “Assassinating leaders with a treacherous operation will not bring security to the occupier, but rather more resistance,” he said in a statement.
“We do not accept that this is an attack specifically directed at the Islamic Jihad,” said Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem.
According to Hamas, this is an attack on the Palestinian people, and as such, there will be a proportionate response, the details of which will be determined by the joint operations room of all factions.
Full ResponsibilityÂ
“The nature and depth of the response, who will participate in the first wave, and who will participate in the second or third wave, if any, will be decided by all Palestinian militant factions in Gaza.”
“Israel bears full responsibility for all of the consequences of this aggression,” he said, according to Haaretz.
The airstrikes are coming at a time when tensions between Israel and Gaza militants are already high.
This is linked, in part, to rising violence in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has been conducting near-daily raids for months to apprehend Palestinians suspected of plotting or carrying out attacks against Israelis.
Following the death of a hunger-striking senior member of the Islamic Jihad in Israeli custody, Gaza militants fired several salvos of rockets toward southern Israel last week, prompting the Israeli military to respond with airstrikes.
The fighting ended with a fragile ceasefire brokered by Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations.
