GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP (AP) – Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed a fourth militant commander yesterday, raising the death toll from the latest burst of fighting to 25. Israel braced for more rocket fire amid reports of faltering Egyptian attempts to broker a cease-fire.
It has been the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in months, and among the dead were also women and children. The conflagration comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the West Bank.
Early yesterday, the Israeli military carried out strikes against the militant group and said a senior commander in charge of the group’s rocket launching force, Ali Ghali, was killed when his apartment was hit.
Military spokesman Daniel Hagari told Israeli Army Radio that two other militants were also killed in the strike and that the rest of the building remained intact. “The apartment was targetted in a very precise way,” Hagari said. “I hope this leads to a reduction, a blow and a disruption of the militant rocket abilities.”
According to Palestinian media reports, the strikes targetted the top floor of a building in a residential, Qatari-built complex in southern Gaza Strip, killing at least two people, including the commander. The Health Ministry in Gaza said 25 people had been killed since the fighting erupted.
Militant group said Ghali was a commander in charge of its rocket squad and a member of its armed group’s decision-making body.
Following intense fighting on Wednesday, when rockets rained down on southern and central Israel and airstrikes pounded Gaza, a state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt, a frequent mediator between the sides, had brokered a cease-fire.
But with the violence continuing into the early hours of yesterday, it appeared neither side was backing down.
