Israel kills armed group commanders, civilians in deadly Gaza air strikes

Israeli aircraft have conducted strikes on Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, the Israeli military said, and the armed group said three senior commanders were killed in the attacks.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least nine people were killed in the strikes early morning on Tuesday. It did not elaborate. Local hospital officials put the death toll at 10.

The Israeli military said the aerial bombings were directed at the residences of three senior commanders of the Islamic Jihad armed group.

Witnesses said an explosion hit the top floor of an apartment building in Gaza and a house in the southern city of Rafah.

The Israeli army said the aerial bombings, codenamed "Operation Shield and Arrow," targeted Khalil Bahtini, the Islamic Jihad commander for northern Gaza; Tareq Izzeldeen, the group's intermediary between its Gaza and West Bank members; and Jihad Ghannam, the secretary of the Islamic Jihad's council.

It added the three were responsible for recent rocket fire toward Israel.

Movement restricted

Islamic Jihad, which is smaller than the dominant, ruling Hamas movement, confirmed that the three were among the dead.

The air strikes come as tension boils between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas.

The tension is linked to increasing violence in the occupied West Bank, where Israel has been conducting near-daily raids for the past months to detain Palestinians suspected of planning or carrying out attacks on Israelis.

In anticipation of Palestinian rocket attacks in response to the airstrikes, the Israeli military issued instructions advising residents of communities within 25 miles (40 kilometres) of Gaza to stay close to designated bomb shelters.

Last week, several rockets were fired from Gaza toward southern Israel, and the Israeli military responded with air strikes following the death of a hunger-striking senior member of the Islamic Jihad in Israeli custody.

The exchange of fire ended with a fragile ceasefire mediated by Egypt, the United Nations, and Qatar.

The air strikes are similar to ones in 2022 in which Israel bombed places housing commanders of the Islamic Jihad group, setting off a three-day blitz that saw the group losing its two top commanders and other dozens of militants.

Israel says the raids in the West Bank are meant to dismantle networks of armed groups and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see the attacks as further entrenchment of Israel’s 56-year, open-ended occupation of lands they seek for a future independent state.

So far, 105 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem since the start of 2023, according to an Associated Press tally.

___

Source: TRT World