Terror attacks in Gaza kill 31 in ongoing spiral of violence

At least 31 people, including six children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip after a new phase of fighting broke out on Friday between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, which fired rockets into Jerusalem on Sunday.

“Recently, we fired rockets at Jerusalem,” announced the Al-Qods Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic jihad, this is a statement. Since 97% of the shells fired from The loopwere intercepted by an Israeli anti-missile shield, according to the army.

This is the first shelling of this city since the escalation of violence with Israel in Gaza Stripthe most serious since last year’s short and bloody war.

On the eve of the Israeli metropolis of Tel Aviv sounded warning sirens.

The shootings this Sunday come as hundreds of Israelis celebrate the Jewish holiday in Jerusalem with a visit by nationalists to the Esplanade of Mosques, known in Judaism as the “Temple Mount.”

This part is located in East Jerusalem, a sector occupied and annexed by Israel, the source of frequent tensions and sometimes bloody clashes between Israeli and Palestinian forces.

An AFP photographer covering the far-right MP’s visit to the Esplanade was briefly detained by Israeli forces.

Report casualties

The Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday that 31 people, including six children, have been killed in Israeli strikes since Friday, and 275 others have been injured.

The Israeli authorities refute this information and assure that several Palestinian children died on Saturday night in Jabaliya (northern Gaza) due to an unsuccessful rocket launch towards Israel, and not because of the advance of its army.

“Islamic Jihad” is included in the list of terrorist organizations in the United States and the European Union.

Explosions and arrests

Israel claims its attacks, launched on Friday as a “preemptive” measure against possible retaliation for the arrest of an Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank, target the armed group’s weapons businesses.

The head of the Israeli army’s operations department, Oded Basik, said in a statement that “the top leadership of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza has been neutralized.”

Among them, Taysir al-Jabari “Abu Mahmoud”, one of the main leaders of the armed group, was killed in Gaza on Friday, and Khaled Mansour, a senior commander who was killed in an attack in Rafah, confirmed “Islamic Jihad”.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that has ruled Gaza since 2007, warned of these Israeli “incursions” in a statement that could lead to an “out of control” situation. Hamas, which has waged several wars against Israel, is not yet involved in the current confrontation.

The Israeli army said on Saturday it was “preparing for a week-long operation.” “There are no ceasefire negotiations,” the military spokesman said. But Prime Minister Yair Lapid specified that the operation would continue “for as long as necessary.”

This Sunday, the Israeli army announced the arrest of twenty Islamic Jihad members in the occupied West Bank, in addition to another 20 arrested on Saturday.

hundreds of shells

Skirmishes on the ground continued into the early hours of Sunday, according to AFP journalists in Gaza.

These clashes are the most violent between Israel and armed organizations in Gaza since the Eleven Day War in May 2021. According to the authorities, 260 people from the Palestinian side and 14 people in Israel were killed in this conflict.

The al-Qods brigades confirmed in a statement that they fired a “strong salvo of rockets” at the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Sderot, before announcing that they had also shelled Jerusalem.

According to rescuers, two people received minor injuries in Israel from rockets.

This new escalation has already deprived the small 362 km2 enclave and its 2.3 million inhabitants of the only power plant that had to close due to fuel shortages due to Israel’s blockade of the enclave’s entrances since Tuesday.

“The situation is very bad,” Mohamed Abu Salmiya, director of the Shifa hospital in Gaza, told AFP.

“We urgently need to open the borders so that medicines can enter, [combustible] for electricity,” he added.

The chairman of the African Union Commission, for his part, condemned the Israeli “air strikes” and reiterated that the attacks on civilians were “a clear violation of international law.” (AFP)