The fighting began when Israel killed a senior commander of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a wave of raids on Friday that Israel said were aimed at preventing an imminent attack. A five-year-old girl and two women are among those killed in the strikes. So far, Hamas, the largest militant group that rules Gaza, has appeared to remain on the sidelines of the conflict, keeping its intensity somewhat subdued. Israel and Hamas fought a war just a year ago, one of four major conflicts and several smaller battles over the past 15 years that have taken a staggering toll on the impoverished region’s two million Palestinians. On Saturday afternoon, Israeli warplanes stepped up raids with strikes on four residential buildings in Gaza City, all apparently linked to Islamic Jihad militants. The destruction was the heaviest to date in the current interchange within the densely populated city, but there were no reports of casualties. In each case, the Israeli military warned residents before the strikes. Palestinians inspect a damaged residential building after it was hit by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday. (Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press) Another strike on Saturday hit a car, killing a 75-year-old woman and injuring six other people, according to Palestinian officials. They said in one of the strikes, after warnings, fighter jets dropped two bombs on the home of an Islamic Jihad member. The explosion leveled the two-story structure, leaving a large crater full of rubble and severely damaged nearby homes. Women and children ran out of the area. “They warned us? They warned us with rockets and we left without taking anything,” said Huda Shamalakh, who lived next door. He said 15 people lived in the targeted home. Gaza’s only power plant shut down at noon on Saturday due to a lack of fuel, as Israel has closed crossing points into Gaza since Tuesday. With the new disruption, Gazans can have only four hours of electricity a day, increasing their reliance on private generators and deepening the region’s chronic electricity crisis amid the summer heat.
Israel uses an air defense system
Throughout the day, Gaza militants regularly fired rounds of rockets into southern Israel, but there were no reports of casualties. Most of the barrages were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, hit in empty areas, or plummeted into Gaza. Rocket shrapnel damaged the roof of a house in the town of Sderot, but the family was sheltering. On Friday night, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a televised address that “Israel is not interested in a wider conflict in Gaza, but it will not avoid such a conflict either.” A missile from Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, is fired at the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Saturday. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images) “This administration has a zero-tolerance policy for any attempted attacks — of any kind — from Gaza into Israeli territory,” he said. “Israel will not sit idly by when there are those who seek to harm its civilians.” The violence is an early test for Lapid, who has taken on the role of caretaker prime minister ahead of November elections, when he hopes to retain the post.
Almost no rebuilding since the last war
Lapid, a centrist former TV host and author, has experience in diplomacy having served as foreign minister in the outgoing government, but has thin security credentials. A clash with Gaza could brighten his position and give him a boost as he faces former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a security hawk who led the country through three of its four wars with Hamas. Relatives react while waiting at the hospital to see the body of Taiseer al-Jabari of Islamic Jihad, who was killed during Israeli airstrikes in his apartment in Gaza City on Friday. (Fatima Shbair/The Associated Press) Hamas also faces a dilemma in deciding whether to engage in a new battle just a year after the last war caused widespread destruction. Since then there has been almost no rebuilding and the isolated coastal region is mired in poverty, with unemployment hovering around 50%. Israel and Egypt have maintained a strict blockade on the region since Hamas took over in 2007. Egypt on Saturday stepped up efforts to prevent an escalation, contacting Israel, the Palestinians and the United States to prevent Hamas from joining the fighting, an Egyptian intelligence official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Israel says 15 dead were militants
The Palestinian Health Ministry put the death toll at 15 and said more than 80 were injured. The ministry did not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The Israeli military said initial estimates were that about 15 fighters were killed. People are seen running for shelter as explosions and rocket sirens are heard in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Friday night. (Reuters) The latest round of Israel-Gaza violence stemmed from the arrest earlier this week of a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank as part of an Israeli military operation in the region. A teenage member of Islamic Jihad was also killed in the clash. Israel then closed roads around Gaza and sent reinforcements to the border, warning of retaliation. On Friday, it killed Islamic Jihad’s commander for northern Gaza, Taiseer al-Jabari, in an attack on an apartment building in Gaza City. WATCHES | Israel launches deadly airstrikes:
Israeli Airstrikes Kill Palestinian Militants, Civilians in Gaza Strip
Israel has launched a deadly round of airstrikes, killing a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip. Nine other people, including civilians, were also killed. An Israeli military spokesman said the strikes were in response to an “immediate threat” from two groups of militants armed with anti-tank missiles. Other Israeli strikes overnight largely hit the outskirts of Gaza City or rural areas, targeting what Israel said were rocket launchers, rocket manufacturing sites and Islamic Jihad camps.
The UN envoy calls for an end to the rocket launches
The UN’s special envoy for the region, Tor Wennesland, said: “Rocket firing must stop immediately and I call on all sides to avoid further escalation.” Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered 25,000 reservists to be called up if needed, while the military announced a “state of emergency” on the home front, with schools closed and restrictions on activities in communities within 80 kilometers of the border. Hamas defeated the rival Fatah faction in Palestinian Legislative Council elections in early 2006 and consolidated power in Gaza the following year — two years after Israel withdrew from the coastal strip in 2005. The Islamic militant group’s most recent war with Israel was in May 2021. Tensions flared again earlier this year after a wave of attacks inside Israel, near-daily military operations in the West Bank and tensions at a holy site in Jerusalem. The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad is smaller than Hamas but largely shares its ideology. Both groups oppose Israel’s existence and have carried out dozens of deadly attacks over the years, including firing rockets into Israel.
