Israel says it has killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a crowded Gaza refugee camp, the second such targeted attack since it launched its a military offensive against the militant group just before the weekend.
The Iran-backed militant group has fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in response, and the risk of the cross-border fighting turning into a full-fledged war remains high.
Gaza’s ruling Hamas group, which fought an 11-day war with Israel in May 2021, appeared to stay on the sidelines for now, possibly because it fears Israeli reprisals and undoing economic understandings with Israel, including work permits for thousands of Gaza residents.
The Islamic Jihad commander, Khaled Mansour, was killed in an air strike on an apartment building in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza late on Saturday, which also killed two other militants and five civilians.
Another seven people were killed on Sunday, bringing the Palestinian death toll to 36 since the start of the Israeli offensive on Friday.
Among the dead were 11 children and four women. The Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 311 people have been wounded since Friday.
Israel said some of the deaths were caused by stray rocket fire, including one incident in the Jebaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza in which six Palestinians were killed on Saturday.
On Sunday, a projectile hit a home in the same area of Jebaliya, killing two men. Palestinians held Israel responsible, while Israel said it was investigating whether the area was hit by an errant rocket.
Mansour, the Islamic Jihad commander for southern Gaza, was in the apartment of a member of the group when the missile struck, flattening the three-storey building and badly damaging nearby houses.
“Suddenly, without warning, the house next to us was bombed and everything became black and dusty with smoke in the blink of an eye,” said Wissam Jouda, who lives next to the targeted building.
Ahmed al-Qaissi, another neighbour, said his wife and son were among the wounded, suffering shrapnel injuries. To make way for rescue workers, he agreed to have part of his house demolished.
The Rafah strike was the deadliest so far in the current round of fighting, which was initiated by Israel on Friday with the targeted killing of Islamic Jihad’s commander for northern Gaza.
Israel said it took action against the militant group because of concrete threats of an imminent attack, but has not provided details.
Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who is an experienced diplomat but untested in overseeing a war, unleashed the offensive less than three months before a general election in which he is campaigning to keep the job.
In a statement on Sunday, he said the military would continue to strike targets in Gaza “in a pinpoint and responsible way in order to reduce to a minimum the harm to non-combatants”.
He added that the strike that killed Mansour was “an extraordinary achievement”.
“The operation will continue as long as necessary,” he said.
Israel estimates its air strikes have killed about 15 militants.
Islamic Jihad has fewer fighters and supporters than Hamas, and little is known about its weapons arsenal. Both groups call for Israel’s destruction, but have different priorities, with Hamas constrained by the demands of governing.
The Israeli army said militants in Gaza had fired 580 rockets towards Israel. The army said its air defences had intercepted many of them, with two of those shot down being fired towards Jerusalem.
