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Gaza City: Israel Before dawn on Tuesday, it launched air strikes against the militant group Islamic Jihad In Gaza, the Israeli military said, 12 people were killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territories.
The ministry said that among the dead were women and children, but did not release further details about the identities of the victims.
An AFP correspondent in Gaza saw the roof of a building burning after the strikes, as well as ambulances evacuating the victims.
The Israeli army said it targeted three leaders of the Islamic Jihad movement, which it considers a terrorist organization, and hit the group’s “weapon manufacturing sites”.
The militant group confirmed the killing of three senior officials and said in a statement that they were Jihad Ghannam, secretary of the military council of the al-Quds Brigades, and Khalil al-Bahtini, a member of the council and commander of the military wing in northern Gaza.
the third, Tareq EzzedineThe Islamic Jihad Movement described him as “one of the leaders of the military action” in the occupied West Bank and operates from Gaza.
An AFP photographer in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, saw the body of a man named Ghannam.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement, “We mourn the leaders, their wives and a number of their children who were killed in a cowardly Zionist crime,” vowing that “the blood of the martyrs will increase the resolve” of the movement.
AFP journalists said the air strikes, which began shortly after 2 am (2300 GMT), continued nearly two hours later, with a new explosion heard in the east.
The operation came less than a week after the Islamic Jihad movement declared a truce over Gaza – with Egyptian mediation – in the wake of a new escalation of violence.
Israel and Gaza exchanged fire across the border after Khader Adnan, who had been on a hunger strike for 87 days after being arrested in connection with the Islamic Jihad movement, was killed in Israeli custody.
The militant group said on Tuesday that Israel had “disdained all the overtures of mediators” and vowed to “avenge the leaders” killed in the recent air strikes.
treacherous operation
In separate statements about the killing of a figure from the Islamic Jihad movement, the Israeli army confirmed that it “will continue to work for the security of civilians in the State of Israel.”
The army presented Ghanan as “a senior member of the organization” who was “entrusted with coordinating weapons and money transfers between the Hamas terrorist organization” and its movement.
Israel said Bahtini “was responsible for firing rockets at Israel last month.”
Ezzedine had recently been “planning and directing (sic) multiple attacks against Israeli civilians” in the West Bank, where he was, which had been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel sentenced him to 25 years in prison for his involvement in suicide attacks in the 2000s, before he was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange and transferred to Gaza, according to the military.
The army instructed Israeli residents 40 kilometers from the Gaza border to stay near shelters until Wednesday evening.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement that “assassination of the leadership in a treacherous operation will not bring security to the occupier, but rather greater resistance.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem warned that Israel “bears responsibility for the repercussions of this escalation.”
Militants in Israel and Gaza have fought multiple wars since Hamas took control of the Palestinian enclave in 2007.
A three-day conflict last August in Gaza killed 49 Palestinians and left no one dead on the Israeli side.
Tuesday’s casualties bring the number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year to 120 so far.
Nineteen IsraelisA Ukrainian and an Italian were killed during the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.
The ministry said that among the dead were women and children, but did not release further details about the identities of the victims.
An AFP correspondent in Gaza saw the roof of a building burning after the strikes, as well as ambulances evacuating the victims.
The Israeli army said it targeted three leaders of the Islamic Jihad movement, which it considers a terrorist organization, and hit the group’s “weapon manufacturing sites”.
The militant group confirmed the killing of three senior officials and said in a statement that they were Jihad Ghannam, secretary of the military council of the al-Quds Brigades, and Khalil al-Bahtini, a member of the council and commander of the military wing in northern Gaza.
the third, Tareq EzzedineThe Islamic Jihad Movement described him as “one of the leaders of the military action” in the occupied West Bank and operates from Gaza.
An AFP photographer in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, saw the body of a man named Ghannam.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement, “We mourn the leaders, their wives and a number of their children who were killed in a cowardly Zionist crime,” vowing that “the blood of the martyrs will increase the resolve” of the movement.
AFP journalists said the air strikes, which began shortly after 2 am (2300 GMT), continued nearly two hours later, with a new explosion heard in the east.
The operation came less than a week after the Islamic Jihad movement declared a truce over Gaza – with Egyptian mediation – in the wake of a new escalation of violence.
Israel and Gaza exchanged fire across the border after Khader Adnan, who had been on a hunger strike for 87 days after being arrested in connection with the Islamic Jihad movement, was killed in Israeli custody.
The militant group said on Tuesday that Israel had “disdained all the overtures of mediators” and vowed to “avenge the leaders” killed in the recent air strikes.
treacherous operation
In separate statements about the killing of a figure from the Islamic Jihad movement, the Israeli army confirmed that it “will continue to work for the security of civilians in the State of Israel.”
The army presented Ghanan as “a senior member of the organization” who was “entrusted with coordinating weapons and money transfers between the Hamas terrorist organization” and its movement.
Israel said Bahtini “was responsible for firing rockets at Israel last month.”
Ezzedine had recently been “planning and directing (sic) multiple attacks against Israeli civilians” in the West Bank, where he was, which had been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israel sentenced him to 25 years in prison for his involvement in suicide attacks in the 2000s, before he was released in a 2011 prisoner exchange and transferred to Gaza, according to the military.
The army instructed Israeli residents 40 kilometers from the Gaza border to stay near shelters until Wednesday evening.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement that “assassination of the leadership in a treacherous operation will not bring security to the occupier, but rather greater resistance.”
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem warned that Israel “bears responsibility for the repercussions of this escalation.”
Militants in Israel and Gaza have fought multiple wars since Hamas took control of the Palestinian enclave in 2007.
A three-day conflict last August in Gaza killed 49 Palestinians and left no one dead on the Israeli side.
Tuesday’s casualties bring the number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year to 120 so far.
Nineteen IsraelisA Ukrainian and an Italian were killed during the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.
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