Air strikes, rocket attacks push Israel, Gaza into second day of fighting By Reuters

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli plane struck in Gaza and Palestinians fired rockets deep into Israel on Saturday, a day after an Israeli operation towards the Islamic Jihad militant group set off a cross-border flare-up that ended greater than a 12 months of relative calm.

Islamic Jihad fired rocket salvoes so far as Israel’s business hub Tel Aviv, after Israel killed one of many group’s senior commanders in a shock daytime air strike on a Gaza Metropolis tower on Friday.

Israel struck extra Islamic Jihad militants and weapon depots hidden in residential areas on Saturday, the army stated. Bombings of at the least 5 homes despatched big clouds of smoke and particles into the air, as explosions rocked Gaza and ambulances rushed by way of the streets.

The Israeli strikes have killed 15 Palestinians, together with at the least 4 different Islamic Jihad militants and three civilians, amongst them a toddler, the Palestinian Well being Ministry stated. It added scores extra had been wounded.

Palestinian militants fired at the least 200 rockets at Israel – most of them intercepted, setting off air raids sirens and sending individuals working to bomb shelters. There have been no experiences of great casualties, the Israeli ambulance service stated.

Egypt stated it was engaged in intensive talks to calm the state of affairs. Additional escalation would largely depend upon whether or not Hamas, the Islamic militant group which controls Gaza, would choose to affix the preventing.

An Egyptian intelligence delegation headed by Main Basic Ahmed Abdelkhaliq arrived in Israel on Saturday and could be travelling to Gaza for mediation talks, two Egyptian safety sources stated. They had been hoping to safe a day’s ceasefire so as to perform the talks, the sources added.

Islamic Jihad signalled no ceasefire was imminent. “The time now could be for resistance, not a truce,” a bunch official advised Reuters. The group has not stated what number of of its members have been killed since Friday.

CONCERN

Round 2.3 million Palestinians are packed into the slender coastal Gaza Strip, with Israel and Egypt tightly proscribing motion of individuals and items out and in of the enclave and imposing a naval blockade, citing safety considerations.

Israel stopped the deliberate transport of gas into Gaza shortly earlier than it struck on Friday, crippling the territory’s lone energy plant and decreasing electrical energy to round 8 hours per day and drawing warnings from well being officers that hospitals could be severely impacted inside days.

The frontier had been largely quiet since Might 2021, when 11 days of fierce preventing between Israel and militants left at the least 250 in Gaza and 13 in Israel lifeless.

U.N. and EU Mideast envoys expressed concern concerning the violence and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority condemned Israel’s assaults. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides stated on Twitter (NYSE:) that “Israel has a proper to guard itself.”

Gaza streets had been largely abandoned on Saturday afternoon. On the web site the place prime Islamic Jihad commander Tayseer al-Jaabari was killed, rubble, glass and furnishings had been strewn alongside the road.

In Israel, border city streets had been largely empty whereas brushfires sparked by rockets unfold by way of close by fields.

Islamic Jihad stated it had fired a missile at Israel’s foremost worldwide gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, however the rocket fell quick round 20 kilometres (12 miles) away. The Civil Aviation Authority stated the airport was working usually.

Tensions rose this week after Israeli forces arrested an Islamic Jihad commander within the occupied West Financial institution, drawing threats of retaliation from the group. The army stated it had apprehended 19 extra members of the group there on Saturday.

Israeli Defence Minister stated dozens of the group’s rocket services in Gaza had been destroyed. Prime Minister Yair Lapid stated the operation thwarted an imminent assault by Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Iran and designated as a terrorist organisation by the West.

Israeli political analysts stated the army operation offered Lapid with a chance to bolster his safety credentials forward of a Nov. 1 election.