Islamic Jihad said in a statement that one of its senior leaders, Tayseer Al Jabari, had been killed in an Israeli strike. He was a commander of the Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the group said, and a member of its Military Council.
The Palestinian health ministry said at least 11 people were killed, including a 5-year-old girl, Alaa Qadoum, and a 23-year-old woman. Another 75 were injured, it said. Israel insists most of those killed were militants.
A CNN producer in Gaza saw medics carrying two bodies out of a building called the Palestine Tower that had been hit in one of the attacks.
An Israeli military statement said the military operation — which it called ‘Breaking Dawn’ — targeted Islamic Jihad, the smaller of the two main militant groups in Gaza.
The Israeli military said the main objective of its military action was a pre-emptive air strike on Al Jabari and attacks on two anti-tank squadrons that were on their way to carry out an attack on Israeli forces.
In a call with reporters Friday night, an army spokesman said the two squadrons had been tracked for several days before the Air Force carried out its operation, adding that Israel was facing a looming threat for several days as the two militant units moved very close to the fence that separates Gaza from Israel.
A “special situation” has been declared in areas around Gaza, in anticipation of possible rocket fire or other retaliatory attacks, the Israeli military said.
“The goal of this operation is the elimination of a specific threat against the citizens of Israel and civilians living next to the Gaza Strip, as well as the targeting of terrorists and their sponsors,” he said. say Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz. said in a joint statement.
“The Israeli government will not allow terrorist organizations from the Gaza Strip to set the agenda in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip and threaten the citizens of the State of Israel. Anyone who seeks to harm Israel should know : we’ll find you.” Lapid said.
Islamic Jihad has vowed to respond. “All options are open, with all the means the Palestinian resistance has, whether in Gaza or outside,” spokesman Daoud Shehab told Al Jazeera. “The battlefield is open… The resistance will respond with full force. We won’t say how, but it’s inevitable.”
Meanwhile, Gantz authorized the call-up of 25,000 reservists on Friday evening, signaling Israel’s readiness for a large-scale escalation.
Those called up will immediately reinforce the army’s Southern Command, which includes the area around Gaza, as well as units that operate Israel’s air defense systems, among other deployments, the defense ministry said.
Sirens signaling the launch of rockets were heard in the southern city of Sderot and other towns near Gaza on Friday evening. Earlier, sirens sounded in Bat Yam, located a few kilometers south of Tel Aviv, and in Yavne, which is located between Tel Aviv and Ashdod. Israeli media reported that many rockets have been intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system, with no casualties reported in Israel.
Since Friday evening, Palestinian militants have fired 193 rockets into Israel, according to the Israeli military.
Of these, 36 landed in Gaza. The rest were intercepted or landed in open areas, he said.
The Israeli military said it continues to strike Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, including a rocket launch site near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. The military also said it is targeting weapons production facilities.
Black-and-white combat video released by the Israeli military on Saturday showed buildings seen from the air apparently destroyed by large explosions from the bombing.
“At this time, the (Israel Defense Forces) will continue to target legitimate terrorist targets belonging to the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip,” the army said.
Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, appears to be treading carefully amid a serious escalation between Israel and Islamic Jihad, the smaller of the Strip’s two main militant factions.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has blamed Israel for the escalation, but his most recent statements have stopped short of threatening attacks in response or warning of retaliation. Instead, they have emphasized the role of international mediators and the participation of Hamas in talks aimed at ending hostilities.
“The Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for its most recent escalation in the Gaza Strip,” Haniyeh said in a Hamas statement early Saturday. “In a phone call with senior Egyptian intelligence officials, Haniyeh reaffirmed the need to immediately halt the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip,” the statement continued.
An earlier Hamas statement reported that Haniyeh had also spoken by phone with Qatar’s foreign minister in an attempt to end the violence.
When militants in Israel and Gaza fought a brief war in May 2021, the fourth such war in 13 years, Hamas was clearly in the driver’s seat. He tried to use the growing violence in and around Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque as a pretext to launch rockets into Jerusalem, which triggered the 11-day conflict.
Tor Wennesland, the UN’s top Middle East official, said he was deeply concerned about the ongoing escalation between the two sides.
Referring to the killing of a five-year-old girl, Wennesland said there could be “no justification for any attack on civilians” and, addressing the militants, said “rocket firing must cease immediately, and I call on all parties to avoid further escalation.”
The UN, along with Egypt, has often played a key intermediary role between Israel and Palestinian militants in restoring a ceasefire after the outbreak of hostilities.
Wennesland said the UN was “fully engaged with all concerned” to try to prevent further deterioration. But he added that “the responsibility lies with the parties to prevent this from happening”.
Friday’s attacks come after Israeli forces captured a senior Islamic Jihad commander, Bassam al-Saadi, during a raid on Monday night in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
During the operation, a 17-year-old Palestinian linked to Islamic Jihad was shot dead in an exchange of gunfire with Israeli soldiers, according to the Israeli military. The Palestinian health ministry said he had been shot in the head by Israeli forces.
Saadi was one of two wanted terror suspects arrested in the attack, Israel said. The Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, said it was mobilizing its forces in the Palestinian territories in response.
Recent months have seen repeated Israeli operations in and around Jenin, after several deadly attacks inside Israel were carried out by Palestinian gunmen in the region. Thirty Palestinians have been killed in raids since the beginning of the year, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Neri Zilber in Jerusalem contributed to this report.