Gaza City – Fifteen people, including three Islamic Jihad chiefs and four children, were killed yesterday in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said.
The Israeli army announced the mobilization of 40 aircraft for the operation against three commanders of the Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, in Gaza City and in Rafah, on the border with Egypt.
“We achieved the objectives we were looking for,” Richard Hecht, a military spokesman, told reporters.
The Islamic Jihad, considered a terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union (EU), confirmed the death of the three leaders. He identified them as Jihad Ghanam, head of the al Quds Brigades for the Gaza Strip, Jalil al Bahtini, a member of the same council and commander in the north of the territory, and Tareq Ezedine, “a head of the military action” of the movement in the West Bank. occupied, which he coordinated from Gaza. The Israeli military pointed out for its part that another two of the dead belonged to “a terrorist commando” of the Islamic Jihad that was preparing a missile attack on Israel.
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Israeli forces presented Ghanam as “one of the highest-ranking members of the organization,” who “was in charge of coordinating arms and money transfers between the Gaza-ruling terrorist organization Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Bahtini was “responsible for rocket fire at Israel last month,” according to Israel.
Ezedine was recently “planning and directing multiple attacks against Israeli civilians” in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his “involvement” in suicide bombings, but was released after a prisoner swap in 2011 and expelled to Gaza.
“About time,” Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on Facebook.
The Israeli army urged residents some 40 km from the Gaza border to stay near bomb shelters until tonight in case of Palestinian rocket fire.
Following a security cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “whoever harms us will be harmed by us, forcefully at a time and place of our choosing.”
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The UN envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, judged that the death of civilians was “unacceptable” and in a statement urged all parties “to exercise the utmost restraint.”
“We have done everything possible to concentrate” the bombardments against the combatants, Hecht responded to a question about the deaths of minors. “If there were tragic deaths, we will investigate it,” he added.
Among the deceased are also a Russian doctor, his wife and one of their children, according to a message posted on Facebook by the Russian representation in Ramallah, West Bank.
Islamic Jihad lashed out at the attack, calling it “a cowardly Zionist crime.” He also promised that “the Resistance will avenge its leaders” who were assassinated.
Daoud Shehab, a leader of the movement in Gaza, assured that “all Israeli cities and settlements” will be “under fire.”
A spokesman for Hamas, the movement that governs Gaza, Hazem Qassem, said Israel would bear “responsibility for the consequences of the escalation.”
The shelling, which lasted nearly two hours, took place less than a week after the announcement of an Egyptian-brokered truce following a new escalation of violence between the Israeli army and Islamic Jihad.
Clashes between the two sides erupted after the death of Khader Adnan, a leader of that Islamist movement who spent more than 80 days on hunger strike in an Israeli prison.
The Israeli army stated that it “will continue to operate for the safety of civilians in the State of Israel.”
Source: Ambito
