In a statement on Sunday, Islamic Jihad confirmed that Khaled Mansour, its commander in the southern Gaza Strip, was killed in an Israeli raid on Saturday. Mansour is the second high-ranking member of Islamic Jihad to be killed since Israel began attacking Gaza on Friday, when it killed the group’s northern commander, Taizir al-Jabari. Israel has warned that its campaign against Islamic Jihad could last a week, and its attacks in Gaza have destroyed apartment buildings and hit refugee camps. At least four children were killed in an explosion near the Jabaliya refugee camp on Saturday, according to Hamas, the group that rules the Gaza Strip. It blamed Israel for the deaths, but the military denied any responsibility, saying the explosion was caused by a failed rocket fired by Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera could not immediately verify the claims. The latest deaths bring the toll of children killed since Friday to six and the total number of Palestinians to 24. At least 204 others were also injured, according to the health ministry in Gaza. Palestinian militants responded to the shelling by firing more than 400 rockets into Israel. Most of the rockets were intercepted and there were no reports of serious casualties, according to Israel’s ambulance service. The violence has raised fears of a new war on Gaza by Israel, just 15 months after a month-long conflict that killed more than 260 people. “The last war caused widespread destruction here in the Gaza Strip. A year later, there has been almost no rebuilding,” Al Jazeera’s Youmna ElSayed said, reporting from Gaza City. “This isolated coastal region is poor, its people are just recovering. And many fear a new round of escalation.”
“Intensive Mediation”
Some 2.3 million Palestinians are huddled in the narrow coastal Gaza Strip, with Israel and Egypt severely restricting the movement of people and goods in and out of the enclave and imposing a naval blockade, citing security concerns. Israel halted planned fuel transfers to Gaza shortly before launching its attacks on Friday, crippling the region’s only power plant and cutting electricity to about four hours a day and warning health officials that hospitals would be severely damaged within days. . “[The Israelis] they attack civilians, they attack facilities, they attack residential areas. No one knows what will happen in the next few hours,” said Dr. Medhat Abbas, director of Gaza’s Ministry of Health. “This is a call to extend a helping hand to the ministry of health in the Gaza Strip at this time. There is a lack of electricity. It has now been stated that it will only be four hours a day. This means we will rely on generators in hospitals. The generators consume half a million liters every month. We don’t have that fuel right now.” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo was talking “around the clock” with both sides to ease the violence. An Egyptian intelligence delegation led by Lt. Gen. Ahmed Abdelhalik arrived in Israel on Saturday and will travel to Gaza for mediation talks, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters news agency. They hoped to secure a day of ceasefire to hold the talks, the sources added. “Intensive efforts have been made this afternoon and the movement has listened to the mediators, but those efforts have not resulted in an agreement yet,” an Islamic Jihad official told Reuters late on Saturday. The latest round of tensions began earlier this week after Israeli forces arrested Bassam al-Saadi, a commander of Islamic Jihad in the occupied West Bank. Al Saadi was arrested during an Israeli raid in the city of Jenin, during which a teenager was killed. Israeli forces then sealed off roads around the Gaza Strip and on Friday bombed an apartment building in central Gaza City, killing al-Jabari, Islamic Jihad’s northern commander, and at least nine others, including a five-year-old girl and a 23. -year-old woman. The Israeli military also said it arrested 19 more members of Islamic Jihad in the occupied West Bank on Saturday. Islamic Jihad is aligned with the ruling Hamas but often acts independently. A further escalation of violence could depend on whether Hamas chooses to join the fighting alongside Islamic Jihad. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said “the Israeli enemy, who started the escalation against Gaza and committed a new crime, must pay the price and bear full responsibility for it.” The Western-backed Palestinian Authority also condemned the Israeli attacks. The violence is an early test for Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who has taken on the role of caretaker leader ahead of November elections when he hopes to retain the top job. 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. The United States said on Saturday it fully supported Israel’s right to defend itself and urged all sides to avoid further escalation, while Iran, which backs Islamic Jihad, said Israel would “pay a heavy price” for the latest attacks. The United Nations and European Union envoys to the Middle East also expressed concern over the violence.
