As darkness fell, Israeli authorities said sirens were heard in southern and central areas, while images broadcast by Israeli television stations appeared to show a number of rockets being shot down by air defense systems. In Tel Aviv, Israel’s financial center, witnesses said they could hear explosions, but there were no reports of sirens. Islamic Jihad, a militant group with a similar ideology to Hamas, the Islamist movement responsible for Gaza, said it fired more than 100 rockets on Friday at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv. Israel’s ambulance service said there were no reports of casualties. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The strikes came just over a year after the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in May 2021, which killed at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel and left the enclave’s economy in tatters. Earlier, local health officials in Gaza said at least 10 people, including a five-year-old child, were killed and 55 wounded in the Israeli airstrikes, which came after days of escalating tensions following the capture of a Palestinian militant leader during the week. An Israeli spokesman said the strikes killed Islamic Jihad commander Tayseer al-Jaabari and about 15 “terrorists,” but said the military did not have a final casualty total. “Israel carried out an expensive counter-terrorist operation against an immediate threat,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a televised statement pledging to do “whatever it takes to defend our people.” “Our fight is not with the people of Gaza. Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy the state of Israel and kill innocent Israelis,” he said. The Israeli military said in a tweet that its warplanes were targeting Islamic Jihad sites in Gaza that are “severely affecting the group’s ability to develop military capabilities.” An Islamic Jihad official confirmed that al-Jabari, whom the Israeli military described as the main coordinator between Islamic Jihad and Hamas, was killed in the strikes, which hit several targets around the densely populated strip. Smoke rose from a building where al-Jaabari was apparently killed and glass and debris were strewn on the street amid the sound of ambulances rushing elsewhere. As mourners prepared to hold funerals for those killed in the attacks, hundreds, some carrying Palestinian flags, marched through the streets of Gaza, while queues formed outside bakeries and supermarkets as people stocked up on food and essentials. The raids came after Israel captured Bassam al-Saadi, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad group, during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin earlier this week. It then closed all Gaza crossings and some nearby roads over fears of reprisals from the group, which has a stronghold in Gaza, further restricting Palestinian movement. The Israeli military said Defense Minister Benny Gantz had approved plans to call up 25,000 reservists after the strikes, signaling that Israel expects a full-scale conflict.
“NO RED LINES”
In an interview with Al Mayadeen TV, a pro-Iranian Lebanese channel, Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhla promised retaliation for the strikes. “There are no red lines in this battle and Tel Aviv will fall under the resistance’s rockets, as will all Israeli cities,” he said. Hamas’ armed wing issued a statement saying: “The blood of our people and our mujahideen will not be in vain.” The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, warned that the “dangerous” escalation risked creating a need for more aid at a time when global resources were stretched by other conflicts. “The missile firing must stop immediately and I call on all sides to avoid further escalation,” he said. Egypt said it was mediating between Israel and the Palestinians. read more Islamic Jihad, one of the Palestinian militant groups, was founded in Gaza in the 1980s and opposes political dialogue with Israel. Considered close to Iran, it is separate from Hamas but generally works closely with the movement. The Israeli military spokesman said authorities expected rocket attacks against central Israel, but said the Iron Dome anti-missile batteries were operational. He said special measures had been imposed on Israeli areas 80 kilometers around Gaza. He said plans to allow fuel trucks into Gaza to keep the region’s only power station running were scrapped at the last minute as intelligence detected movements that indicated attacks on Israeli targets were imminent. The fuel shortage is expected to lead to more blackouts in Gaza, where residents already have just 10 hours of electricity a day, and further damage the economy of a region that depends on foreign aid and is still struggling to recover from previous wars. . A narrow strip of land where some 2.3 million people live in a 365-square-kilometer (140-square-mile) section, Gaza has been a constant flashpoint of conflict since Hamas took control. Israel has fought five conflicts with Gaza since 2009. The area has been under blockade ever since, with Israel and Egypt severely restricting the movement of people and goods in and out. “We still haven’t been able to rebuild what Israel destroyed a year ago. People haven’t had a chance to breathe and here Israel is attacking again for no reason,” said Mansour Mohammad-Ahmed, 43, a farmer from the center. Gauze. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reported by Nidal al Mughrabi, Henriette Chacar, James Mackenzie. Editing by Mark Potter, Frank Jack Daniel and Daniel Wallis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Nidal Al-Mughrabi Thomson Reuters Senior correspondent with nearly 25 years of experience covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including several wars and the signing of the first historic peace agreement between the two sides.
