Israeli jets pounded militant targets in Gaza on Saturday as rockets rained on southern Israel, hours after a wave of Israeli airstrikes on the coastal enclave killed at least 15 people, including a senior militant and a 5-year-old girl.
The fighting that began Friday with Israel\u2019s dramatic targeted killing of a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad continued throughout the night, drawing the sides closer to an all-out war.
But the territory\u2019s Hamas rulers appeared to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, keeping its intensity somewhat contained, for now. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and several smaller battles over the last 15 years at a staggering cost to the territory\u2019s two million Palestinian residents.
Shortly before noon, Israeli warplanes stepped up airstrikes in Gaza. After warning residents in phone calls, fighter jets dropped two bombs on the house of an Islamic Jihad member, flattening the west Gaza City two-story structure and badly damaging surrounding homes. Women and children rushed out of the area.
\u201cWarned us? They warned us with rockets and we fled without taking anything,\u201d said Huda Shamalakh, who lived next door. She said 15 people lived in the targeted home.
Another airstrike hit an Islamic Jihad site nearby.
The latest round of Israel-Gaza violence was sparked by the arrest this week of a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank, part of a monthlong Israeli military operation in the territory. Citing a security threat, Israel then sealed roads around the Gaza Strip and on Friday killed the militant leader in a targeted strike.
A blast was heard in Gaza City, where smoke poured from the seventh floor of a tall building. Video released by Israel\u2019s military showed the strikes blowing up three guard towers with suspected militants in them.
In a nationally televised speech Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said his country launched the attacks based on \u201cconcrete threats.\u201d
\u201cThis government has a zero-tolerance policy for any attempted attacks \u2014 of any kind \u2014 from Gaza towards Israeli territory,\u201d Lapid said. \u201cIsrael will not sit idly by when there are those who are trying to harm its civilians.\u201d
\u201cIsrael isn\u2019t interested in a broader conflict in Gaza but will not shy away from one either.\u201d he added.
The violence poses an early test for Lapid, who assumed the role of caretaker prime minister ahead of elections in November, when he hopes to keep the position.
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 conflict with Gaza could burnish his standing and give him a boost as he faces off against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a security hawk who led the country during three of its four wars with Hamas.
Hamas also faces a dilemma in deciding whether to join a new battle barely a year after the last war caused widespread devastation. There has been almost no reconstruction since then, and the isolated coastal territory is mired in poverty, with unemployment hovering around 50 percent.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 5-year-old girl and two women were among those killed in Gaza, without differentiating between civilian and militant casualties. The Israeli military said early estimates were that around 15 fighters were killed. Dozens were wounded.
Islamic Jihad said Tayseer al-Jabari, its commander for northern Gaza, was among the dead. He had succeeded another militant killed in an airstrike in 2019. That set off a heavy round of fighting between Israel and the militant group.
An Israeli military spokesman said the strikes were in response to an \u201cimminent threat\u201d from two militant squads armed with anti-tank missiles. The spokesman, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said al-Jabari was deliberately targeted and had been responsible for \u201cmultiple attacks\u201d on Israel.
Hundreds marched in a funeral procession for him and others who were killed, with many mourners waving Palestinian and Islamic Jihad flags and calling for revenge.
Israeli media showed the skies above southern and central Israel lighting up with rockets and interceptors from Israel\u2019s Iron Dome missile-defense system. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear how many rockets were launched, and there were no immediate reports of casualties on the Israeli side.
Overnight, Israel struck rocket launchers, rocket building sites and Islamic Jihad positions. It also arrested 19 Islamic Jihad militants in the West Bank, the military said.
The UN special envoy to the region, Tor Wennesland, said: \u201cThe launching of rockets must cease immediately, and I call on all sides to avoid further escalation.\u201d
Following the initial Israeli strikes, a few hundred people gathered outside the morgue at Gaza City\u2019s main Shifa hospital. Some went in to identify loved ones and emerged later in tears.
\u201cMay God take revenge against spies,\u201d shouted one, referring to Palestinian informants who cooperate with Israel.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz approved an order to call up 25,000 reserve soldiers if needed while the military announced a \u201cspecial situation\u201d on the home front, with schools closed and limits placed on activities in communities within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of the border.
Israel closed roads around Gaza earlier this week and sent reinforcements to the border as it braced for a revenge attack after Monday\u2019s arrest of Bassam al-Saadi, an Islamic Jihad leader, in a military raid in the occupied West Bank. A teenage member of the group was killed in a gunbattle between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants.
Hamas seized power in the coastal strip from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Its most recent war with Israel was in May 2021.
Tensions soared again earlier this year following a wave of attacks inside Israel, near-daily military operations in the West Bank and tensions at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. Israel withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.
Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhalah, speaking to the al-Mayadeen TV network from Iran, said \u201cfighters of the Palestinian resistance have to stand together to confront this aggression.\u201d He said there would be \u201cno red lines\u201d and blamed the violence on Israel.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said \u201cthe Israeli enemy, which started the escalation against Gaza and committed a new crime, must pay the price and bear full responsibility for it.\u201d
Both the Palestinian Jihad and Hamas oppose Israel\u2019s existence and have carried out scores of deadly attacks over the years, including the firing of rockets into Israel.
It\u2019s unclear how much control Hamas has over Islamic Jihad, and Israel holds Hamas responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza.
Israel and Egypt have maintained a tight blockade over the territory since the Hamas takeover. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities. Critics say the policy amounts to collective punishment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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