Israel-Gaza: Hundreds of rockets fired at Israel amid deadly IDF airstrikes in Gaza


Gaza and Jerusalem
CNN

On Wednesday, the Israeli army and Palestinian militants exchanged fire across the border as hundreds of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out deadly strikes on targets they say are Islamic Jihad targets. along the strip.

The latest violence came after Israeli military airstrikes earlier in the week killed three leaders of a Palestinian militant group and 10 other Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza, leading to threats of retaliation.

In a new update early Thursday, the IDF said it had targeted another Islamic Jihad commander who was a “central figure” in the Palestinian militant group.

“We have just targeted Ali Ghali, the commander of the Islamic Jihad Missile and Space Force, as well as two other Islamic Jihad fighters in Gaza,” the IDF tweet said, adding that Ghali “was responsible for the recent rocket attacks Israel.” ”

Islamic Jihad confirmed that Ghali was killed early Thursday morning, saying he commanded a missile unit of the Al-Quds Brigade.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 25 people had been killed and 76 injured since the airstrikes began on Tuesday. Among those injured, 15 people died on Tuesday, seven on Wednesday and three on Thursday, according to the ministry.

Israel is bombarding Islamic Jihad fighters and infrastructure using surveillance drones as it monitors fighters preparing to launch missiles, Rear Admiral, the top IDF spokesman, said. This was announced on Wednesday by Daniel Hagari.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant movement that governs the Gaza Strip, issued a statement on Wednesday strongly stating that its forces were firing rockets at Israel, shortly after the IDF firmly stated that they did not believe Hamas was doing so.

“The Palestinian resistance, with all its factions, led by the Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, is now participating in a unified manner, teaching the enemy a lesson that he will not forget and reaffirming that Palestinian blood is not cheap,” the statement said. issued by Muhammad al-Buraim, an official of the United Resistance Committees in Palestine.

Puffs of smoke after the resumption of Israeli military strikes on Gaza on May 10, 2023.

The statement appears to have been intended to refute top IDF spokesman Hagari’s assertion that the IDF only saw Islamic Jihad and not Hamas launching rockets.

More than 500 rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Israel as of 6 a.m. local time Thursday, according to the IDF. Of these, 154 were intercepted by the Israeli missile defense system, and 110 fell short, landing in Gaza.

In total, according to the IDF, 158 Islamic Jihad targets were hit.

Civilians in Israel have been asked to act in accordance with special instructions posted on the National Emergency Portal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials on Wednesday downplayed the idea that a ceasefire with Islamic Jihad was imminent, with Netanyahu saying, “The campaign is not over yet.”

National Security Council Chairman Tzachi Khanegbi said rumors of a ceasefire were “premature”, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was somewhat more optimistic, saying “I hope we end this soon, but we are ready for the option that it will be extended.” “.

IDF spokesman Hagari said more than half a million Israelis were in or near shelters just after 2:00 pm local time (7:00 am ET) on Wednesday.

Medics rushed an injured man to Shifa hospital after deadly Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

International leaders condemned the military action. The UN Secretary-General urged all parties to exercise “maximum restraint” as violence escalated in Gaza, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The Secretary General condemns the deaths of civilians, including children and women, which he considers unacceptable and must be stopped immediately,” the statement said.

“Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law, including the proportional use of force and the adoption of all possible precautions to protect civilians and civilian objects during military operations. ”

The statement added that the Secretary-General also condemned the “indiscriminate launch” of rockets from Gaza against Israel, adding that it “violates international humanitarian law and puts both Palestinian and Israeli civilians at risk.”

Qatar has repeatedly called for an end to Israel’s “brutal aggression” in the Gaza Strip to avoid “greater damage,” Majed Al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Egyptian state-run XtraNews, citing Egyptian sources, said “intense efforts” were being made to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, but did not specify which parties were contacted. This was reported on the website of the Egyptian state newspaper Al Ahram.

Hamas said in a statement that the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniya, spoke with officials from Egypt, Qatar and the UN.

Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel streaked across the sky on Wednesday.

The Gaza Health Ministry said one person was killed in Wednesday’s attack. He named him 25-year-old Muhammad Yusuf Saleh Abu Tayma and said he died in a bomb blast east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

A CNN producer in Gaza reported bombings in Khan Younis, Rafah and northern Gaza.

Shortly thereafter, he saw at least six rockets fired from Gaza at Israel. Sirens warning of incoming missiles sounded in the southern Israeli cities of Sderot and Ashkelon, as well as in the Lachish region, located near the Gaza Strip, the IDF said. Later, sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, Israel’s main city on the Mediterranean coast, warning of a possible approaching rocket attack.

Authorities said several places in Israel were hit by direct rocket hits from Gaza, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The rocket landed near buildings and caused extensive damage in Ashkelon, according to photos released by the Israel Fire and Rescue Service. A building in Kibbutz Nir Am was also damaged, and a rocket hit the garden of a house in Sderot.

One of the three Islamic Jihad commanders killed on Tuesday was working to launch missiles from the West Bank towards Israel, IDF chief spokesman Hagari said at the time.

Rockets have never been launched from the West Bank into Israel.

Islamic Jihad has confirmed that three of its commanders were killed in a night operation along with their wives and children.

Among the commanders killed were Jihad Shaker Al-Ghannam, secretary of the Military Council of the Al-Quds Brigades; Khalil Salah al-Bakhtini, Commander of the Northern Region in the Al-Quds Brigades; and Ezzedine, one of the leaders of the military wing of the Al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank, the group said.

Hagari said the operation had been planned since last Tuesday, when Islamic Jihad fired more than 100 rockets into Israel after the death of its former spokesman during a hunger strike in an Israeli prison.

But the IDF did not have “operational conditions” until Tuesday night.

The Israel Defense Forces launched another strike on Tuesday, saying its air force had targeted a “terrorist squad” belonging to Islamic Jihad in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said two people were killed and two injured in the attack east of Khan Yunis, although they have not yet been identified, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 15 on Tuesday.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world, an isolated coastal enclave of nearly 2 million people squeezed into 140 square miles.

Hamas-ruled territory is largely cut off from the rest of the world by the Israeli land, air and sea blockade of Gaza, which began as early as 2007. Egypt controls Gaza’s southern border crossing, Rafah.

Israel has imposed severe restrictions on the freedom of movement of the civilian population and controls the entry of essential goods into the narrow coastal strip.