Islamic Jihad military chief killed in Gaza

On Thursday night, the Israeli armed forces reported the targeted killing of another high-ranking member of the militant Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Quds Brigades, the organization’s armed wing, said Ali Ghali, commander of the missile program, was killed in a building in southern Gaza. In addition, two other fighters from the organization were killed in Chan Yunis, the Israeli military and Islamic Jihad said.

Several Egyptian media reported in the evening that Egypt had successfully mediated a ceasefire between Israel and the parties in the Gaza Strip. However, there is no official confirmation of this from any of the parties involved. In addition to Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations are also reportedly seeking a ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in the evening that Israel is still in the midst of operations against Islamic Jihad. It was “delivered the heaviest blow in its history”.

According to the military, the Israeli air force had attacked more than 150 targets in the Gaza Strip in the past few days, including weapons production sites and an Islamic Jihad center from which the group is said to have planned rocket launches in Israel. The military went on to say that the so-called pre-emptive strikes were only aimed at targets linked to Islamic Jihad.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 25 people have been killed and 70 injured in the attacks since Tuesday. According to Palestinian sources, at least 17 of the dead were civilians.

More than 500 rockets fired at Israel

In response, Palestinian militants fired more than 500 rockets at Israel, according to the Israeli army. Around 360 of them crossed the border to Israel, while the rest fell in the Gaza Strip. Sirens were also heard several times in the Tel Aviv area on Wednesday. It was the first missile alert of this kind there since August 2022. In the morning, the warning sirens wailed again on the Israeli side in the border area. Some homes in southern Israel were destroyed. Several people were injured on the way to their shelters.

The renewed escalation of the conflict followed the killing of three senior members of Islamic Jihad in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday. The week before, militants in the Gaza Strip fired dozens of rockets and several mortar shells into Israel after the death of a Palestinian detainee, injuring several people. Chader Adnan, a senior member of Islamic Jihad, died in Israeli custody after nearly three months on a hunger strike.

Guterres urges protection of civilians

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has meanwhile condemned the killing of civilians. He called on Israel to live up to its obligations under international humanitarian law. This included, among other things, renouncing the excessive use of force and protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure in armed struggles. Shooting rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip also violates international humanitarian law and endangers the lives of bystanders on both sides, Guterres warned.

The White House in Washington said that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke to his Israeli colleague Tsachi Hanegbi and reaffirmed the “iron support of the United States for Israel’s security”.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which rule in the Gaza Strip, are classified as terrorist organizations by the USA, the European Union and Israel. Both groups have taken up the cause of the destruction of Israel.

kle/fab/tl (dpa, afp, rtr)