The armed wing of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad announced on Friday that it had fired “more than 100 rockets” towards Israel, its “first response” to Israeli strikes.
Salvos of rockets were fired Friday from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, after Israeli strikes targeting the armed group Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian enclave where fighters and civilians, including a child, died.
“More than 100 rockets” were launched by the Al-Quds brigades towards Israeli soil, shots presented by this armed branch of Islamic Jihad as a “first response” to the Israeli strikes which notably killed one of the leaders of the group, Tayssir Al- Jabari.
Warning sirens sounded in several localities in southern Israel, but no information was immediately available about possible victims.
Girl killed by Israeli strike
The Israeli army estimated that it killed 15 Islamic Jihad fighters in Gaza in its strikes that began in the afternoon and continued into the evening. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported ten dead, “including a five-year-old girl”, and 55 injured.
The Jewish state presented its raids as a “preemptive attack” against Islamic Jihad, according to an Israeli military spokesman, Richard Hecht
“Israel conducted a precise counterterrorism operation against an immediate threat,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on television. “Islamic Jihad is a proxy for Iran that wants to destroy the State of Israel and kill innocent Israelis. (…) We will do whatever it takes to defend our people,” he said. added.
In Ramallah in the West Bank, the Palestinian presidency condemned “Israeli aggression” and held the Jewish state responsible for the “dangerous escalation”. Since 2007, Israel has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza, a micro-territory plagued by poverty and unemployment.
Source: BFM TV
