GAZA CITY (AP) – An Israeli airstrike killed a senior commander in the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, authorities said yesterday, its second leader to be slain amid an escalating cross-border conflict.
The killing late on Saturday of Khaled Mansour, who led the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad’s operations in the southern Gaza Strip, came a day after another Israeli strike killed the militant’s commander in the north.
Already, the fighting has killed at least 29 Palestinians and seen hundreds of rockets fired toward Israel in the worst violence between Israel and Palestinian militants since the end of an 11-day war in 2021.
Meanwhile, tensions could escalate as Jews mark a holy day that will see Israeli lawmakers visit a site in Jerusalem, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Such visits can be a frequent flashpoint for violence between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Al-Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad confirmed yesterday that the airstrike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed Mansour and two fellow militants. The militants said the strike also killed civilians as it flattened several homes.
The Israeli government also said its forces killed Mansour in the strike, which it described as a joint operation between its military and intelligence agencies approved by the country’s political leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the army would continue to strike targets in the Gaza Strip “in a pinpoint and responsible way to reduce to a minimum the harm to non-combatants”.
“The operation will continue as long as necessary,” Lapid said in a statement.
Yesterday, Gaza’s Health Ministry said 29 people had been killed in the fighting so far in the coastal strip, including six children and four women. It said at least 253 people had been wounded.
Israel estimates its airstrikes have killed about 15 militants. Meanwhile, the Israeli army said militants in Gaza had fired some 580 rockets toward Israel. The army said its air defences had intercepted many of them, with two of those shot down being fired toward Jerusalem.
Militants from Islamic Jihad continued firing rockets toward Israel and the Israeli military continued airstrikes on Gaza, though the intensity of the exchange appeared to decrease early yesterday. Air raid sirens sounded in the Jerusalem area for the first time yesterday since last year’s war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.