New outbreak of violence between Gaza and Israel. The largest since August 2022. It began on Tuesday with Israeli strikes on Palestinian territory, targeting Islamic Jihad, considered a “terrorist” organization by the Jewish state, the European Union and the United States. For three days, reprisals on both sides have raised fears of additional civilian casualties. Already 26 people, including children, have been killed in the Palestinian territory. Update on the latest events.
What was the trigger for the violence?
Less than a week after the announcement of a truce between Israel and Islamic Jihad, raids on the Gaza Strip have set fire to the powder. Before dawn on Tuesday, strikes involving 40 aircraft targeted three commanders of the Al-Quds brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, in the cities of Gaza and Rafah, on the border with Egypt. They are Jihad Ghannam, the head of the Al-Quds brigades for the Gaza Strip, Khalil Al-Bahtini, commander of the brigades for the north of the territory, and Tareq Ezzedine, “a head of military action”. of the movement in the occupied West Bank.
While these strikes achieved their objective, they also affected civilians. A total of 15 people, including four children, were killed in the shelling, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Among those killed are a Russian citizen, a doctor, his wife and one of their children, according to a message posted on Facebook by the Russian Representation in Ramallah, in the West Bank. At the end of the day, the army said it had targeted other members of Islamic Jihad who were carrying anti-tank guided missiles in a car in Khan Younis (south).
On Wednesday, Israel continued these attacks. Two young Palestinian members of the Islamic Jihad, Ahmed Assaf, 19, and Rani Qatanat, 24, were shot dead in the occupied West Bank. A 17-year-old boy was also injured in the abdomen and chest, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Then new Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip also killed seven people, including a 10-year-old girl. On Thursday, the Israeli army said it targeted 166 targets across the Gaza Strip, including rocket launch sites belonging to the armed group, and killed two commanders.
What response from Islamic Jihad?
In response, rocket fire erupted from the Gaza Strip into Israel during the day Wednesday. Rocket warning sirens sounded in the Tel Aviv area, while others went off in the cities of Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon. A total of 547 projectiles were launched towards Israeli territory in two days, of which 175 were intercepted by the anti-aircraft defense system, according to the army. “No Israeli civilians have been harmed at this stage,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
What reactions internationally?
The international community is worried. Many powers are trying to call for calm, starting with Washington. As of Tuesday, the White House on Tuesday called on all parties to “de-escalate” fearing a new spiral of violence. The German, French, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers also called for de-escalation on Thursday. “The bloodshed must stop now,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during a meeting with her three counterparts in Berlin.
Egypt, the traditional mediator between the belligerents, is working on its side to obtain a ceasefire. Mohammed al-Hindi, head of the Islamic Jihad’s political department, arrived in Cairo on Thursday, a source within the Palestinian organization told AFP. An Egyptian delegation is to travel to Tel Aviv in the evening to negotiate a truce, an Egyptian source told AFP.
For its part, Iran, which supports Islamic Jihad, denounced the “Zionist atrocities”, promising “defeat” to the “occupying regime”, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani.
How many deaths in less than a year?
In August 2022, three days of clashes between Israel and Islamic Jihad caused the death of 49 Palestinians, including at least 19 children according to the UN. About 200 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, injuring three.
Since the beginning of the year, at least 132 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP tally from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.
These statistics include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.