The death toll in the Gaza Strip from a new wave of violence between Israel and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad has risen to at least 24, including six children. This was stated by the Ministry of Health of Gaza on Saturday, international news agencies report.
Islamic Jihad reported on Saturday night that Khaled Mansour, a senior armed commander, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
At least 200 people have been injured in the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, which destroyed buildings in residential areas where Israel says weapons were hidden.
The wave of violence began with a series of attacks by Israel on Friday that killed Taysir al-Jabari, an Islamic Jihad commander. According to Israel, those attacks were intended to prevent an imminent attack. The Israeli army said it had “neutralized Islamic Jihad” military leaders on Saturday evening, AFP reports.
Also read: New shelling in Gaza Strip, United Nations deeply concerned
Air raid siren
Hundreds of Palestinian rockets also landed for a second day in southern Israel, as far as Tel Aviv on Saturday. In total, more than 400 rockets are said to have been fired at Israel in recent days. Most of them have been intercepted and there have been no known casualties, Israeli emergency services have said. In response to the rocket attacks, the air raid siren sounds and people take refuge in air raid shelters.
Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, said the children killed were among those killed in an explosion at the Jabalya refugee camp. The Israeli military denied responsibility, saying the blast was caused by a failed missile launch by Islamic Jihad. It supplied video footage of a nighttime launch of a rocket from Gaza that immediately veered off course and landed in a built-up area. The video has not been independently verified, Reuters reported.
The violence raises fears of a further escalation of the conflict. The confrontation is the fiercest between Israel and armed organizations in Gaza since the May 2021 war, which left 260 dead on the Palestinian side and 14 dead in Israel in 11 days.