Published: 12 May 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Israeli raids killed leading terrorists but set off escalating violence on the Gaza-Israel border that left dozens of Palestinians dead. Rockets pummelled Israel killing a man in Rehovot and wounding others.
Explosions ripped through Gaza early on Tuesday morning as the Israeli Air Force assassinated three senior members of the Islamic Jihad terror group.
The raids set off days of fighting that have resulted in the deaths of Palestinian and Israeli civilians, as well as more Islamic Jihad terrorist targets.
As of midnight Thursday (Israel time), 29 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed in the fighting. Israel has hit 191 Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets, killing at least five senior targets and more than 20 civilians, including several children.
Palestinians militants have launched at least 803 rockets from Gaza, 620 of which have crossed into Israeli territory. One Israeli was killed in Rehovot and several buildings have been damaged but most rockets have landed in open areas or been intercepted. Misfired rockets were responsible for several civilian deaths in Gaza, according to the IDF.
Egypt is attempting to mediate a ceasefire, so far unsuccessfully.
The fighting began with three simultaneous pre-dawn attacks on major Islamic Jihad targets, which assassinated Khalil Bahtini, who commanded Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza, Jihad Ghanem, a top official in the group’s military council, and Tareq Izz ed-Din, who directed Islamic Jihad terror activities in the West Bank from a base in Gaza.
Each strike also killed civilian family members and, in some cases, neighbours. In the strike killing Izz ed-Din, his 9- and 10-year-old children Ali and Mayar were killed. In the strike killing Bahtini, his 5-year-old daughter Hajar was killed along with his cousin Laila. In the strike on Ghanem, his wife Wafa was also killed.
