Video shows explosive Israeli airstrike on an apartment block in Gaza, in 'targeted killing' of an Islamic Jihad commander
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
- An Israeli airstrike killed a top leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
- PIJ targeted the Jerusalem area with rocket attacks on Friday.
- Recent fighting has seen hundreds of strikes and rocket exchanges between Israel and Gaza militants.
An Israeli airstrike killed a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the organization has announced, per BBC News.
A video distributed by the Israel Defense Forces showed a missile being fired into an upper floor of an apartment block in Gaza on Friday, followed by a massive explosion. Israel called the strike a "targeted killing."
Iyad al-Hassani is the sixth PIJ leader to be killed by Israel this week.
—Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) May 12, 2023
BBC News reported that al-Hassani was put in the post to replace Khalil al-Bahtini, who was killed along with his child by an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday. A second person was killed in the al-Hassani strike.
Following these deaths, Reuters reports that Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi announced that the IDF is concentrating on attacking Gaza militants rather than working to reach a ceasefire.
Since Tuesday, there have been large-scale missile and rocket exchanges between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
Nearly 1,000 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza over the past four days, with 761 crossing into Israeli territory, according to Israel's military. Most were shot down by Israel's "Iron Dome" interceptor missile system or hit open areas.
Israel has hit 254 PIJ targets in Gaza, its military said, BBC News reported.
—Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) May 12, 2023
Friday's fighting resumed after 12 hours of calm, giving hope that a ceasefire could be brokered by Egypt.
However, this was interrupted by Israeli air strikes, followed by another salvo of militants rockets fired from Gaza, some aimed at the Jerusalem area, BBC News reported.
"The bombing of Jerusalem sends a message," Islamic Jihad said in a statement, per AP. "What is happening in Jerusalem is not separate from Gaza."
The renewed fighting between Israel and the PIJ, the second largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas, has claimed the lives of at least 33 Palestinians, including women and children, and an 80-year-old Israeli woman.