Article Author:
Associated Press
Fares Akram
GAZA CITY, GAZA STRICT (AP) — The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group said late Saturday that Israeli airstrikes hit its commander-in-chief in the southern Gaza Strip. Iran-backed Israeli-backed airstrike in northern Gaza in the worst cross-border conflict between Israeli and Palestinian militants since the end of the 2021 11-day war, which it said killed an officer A day after killing the group's commander.
The Islamic Jihad's Al-Qudah Brigade on Sunday killed its commander Khaled Mansour and two fellow militants in an airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. It said five other civilians, including three children and women, were also killed in the airstrikes that knocked down several homes in Rafah.
Late Saturday, Gaza's health ministry said 24 of his people, including six of his children, had died in the coastal zone so far. This number does not necessarily include all those killed in the Rafah airstrikes. Civil Defense responders were still searching under the rubble for bodies and survivors.
So far, two of his top Islamic Jihad commanders and several other militants are dead. Israel estimates that about 15 militants were killed in the airstrikes.
Islamic Jihad militants continued to fire rockets into Israel and Israeli forces continued to bomb Gaza, but the intensity of the exchanges diminished early on Sunday.
The fighting began with the killing of a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a series of strikes on Friday that Israel said were intended to prevent an imminent attack.
Hamas, the largest extremist group that governs Gaza, has so far appeared to sit on the sidelines of the conflict and its response has been limited.Israel and Hamas fought the war just one year ago. It was one of his four major conflicts and several smaller ones in the last 15 years, taking a staggering toll on her two million Palestinians in impoverished areas.
Whether or not Hamas will continue to fight depends on how much punishment Israel imposes on Gaza as rockets continue to be fired.
The Israeli military said late Saturday that a errant rocket fired by Palestinian militants killed civilians, including children, in the town of Jabariya in northern Gaza. The military said it had investigated the incident and concluded that it was "definitely" due to a failed Islamic Jihad. There was no official Palestinian comment on the incident.
Palestinian health workers were not allowed to give media briefings and spoke on condition of anonymity.
An Israeli airstrike on Saturday killed a 75-year-old woman and injured six as she prepared to go to a wedding. The airstrikes also destroyed several homes in the Gaza Strip, some of which belonged to Islamic Jihad members.
Gaza's lone power plant shut down at midday on Saturday due to a fuel shortage. Israel has continued to close crossings to Gaza since Tuesday. New disruptions have left Gazans with only four hours of electricity a day, increasing reliance on private generators and jeopardizing the region's chronic power crisis amid peak summer heat. It has turned into.
