The Israeli army on Friday carried out strikes on the Gaza Strip targeting the armed group Islamic Jihad, which in return accused the Jewish state of wanting to “start a war” against the Palestinian people. According to Palestinian health authorities, four people died, including a child.
Israel launches new air offensive against Islamic Jihad in Gaza. The Jewish State army carried out several strikes on the Palestinian enclave on Friday, August 5, targeting Islamic Jihad and killing a high-ranking commander of the armed group, according to the latter, who accused Israel of wanting to “trigger a war” against the Palestinian people. Gaza’s health ministry said four people died, including a child.
“The number of martyrs has risen to four, including a 5-year-old girl,” the health ministry said.
The Israeli army “is striking the Gaza Strip” and this operation targets the Islamic Jihad organization, the army said in statements. Islamic Jihad announced shortly after that one of its leaders was killed in one of the strikes. “The enemy has started a war against our people and we must collectively defend ourselves and our people, we will not allow our enemy’s policies to undermine our resistance,” Islamic Jihad said in a statement.
Several Palestinians were also injured in strikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to the health ministry of Hamas, the ruling Islamist organization.
Witnesses and Palestinian security sources told AFP they saw several strikes, including one in central Gaza City.
These raids come after the arrest on Monday 1er August, of an Islamic Jihad leader in the occupied West Bank, Bassem Saadi. The Israeli authorities feared reprisal attacks from the Gaza Strip, an enclave controlled by the Islamists of Hamas where Islamic Jihad is well established.
Shortly before the strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz claimed that Israeli forces were “preparing for any action to be taken on all fronts, in the northern, central and southern regions of Israel.” . “To our enemies, and particularly to the leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, I would like to insist: your time is running out. The threat (to southern Israel – editor’s note) will be eliminated one way or another” , he said, according to a statement.
Closure of border crossings
The Israeli army on Tuesday ordered the closure of border crossings, forcing thousands of Gazans, holders of work permits in Israel, to stay at home. The shutdown has slowed the delivery of diesel fuel, usually trucked in from Egypt or Israel and needed to power Gaza’s power plant.
This single power plant risks closing due to a lack of fuel, its director warned on Thursday.
About 50 people who normally leave the enclave daily for treatment have also been affected, according to the World Health Organization.
Since 2007, the Jewish state has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza, an enclave of 2.3 million inhabitants plagued by poverty and unemployment.
Israel and armed groups in Gaza have fought several wars, the last of which was in May 2021. Israel’s last strikes on Gaza were on July 19, when the Israeli army targeted a Hamas position after a gunshot in coming from the enclave.
With AFP & Reuters
Source: France 24
