Fighting and missile barrages have continued despite the agreed-upon ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Summary
Fighting and missile barrages have continued despite the agreed-upon ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
- At least 33 Palestinian militants and civilians and two people in Israel, an Israeli and a Palestinian civilian, have been killed in five days of fighting.
- The Egyptian-mediated ceasefire brought an end to the deadliest period of fighting since the 10-day 2021 Gaza War.
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a smaller radical Islamist militant group compared to the much-stronger Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Islamic Jihad is heavily financed by Iran and is effectively a proxy force allowing the Islamic Republic to strike Israel.
- Eyad Al-Hasani, a senior leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad was killed in an airstrike on Friday along with another militant. Hasani’s death makes him the sixth senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader to be killed this week.
- Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday morning targeting commanders of the Iranian-backed group. In retribution, Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched 1,000 rockets on Israeli civilian areas.
- According to CNN, “the IDF said that in the last 24 hours, they struck operational residences used as headquarters and command and control centers by the Jihad terrorists.”
- NBC News noted not all of this week’s violence occurred in Gaza. In the West Bank, “the Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp near the northern city of Nablus, sparking a firefight that killed two Palestinians. In a separate incident near the northern city of Jenin, Israeli police said they shot and killed a suspected Palestinian assailant who ran toward soldiers wielding a knife.”
- Six Palestinian children were killed as of Friday, and more than half of the 33 Palestinian dead were civilians, according to the New York Times. The Gaza Health Ministry provided those numbers, and also claimed that more than 100 Palestinians were injured.
- National Review reported the names of two other Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders killed by Israeli precision strikes. Northern Gaza division commanding officer Khalil Bahitini and Jahed Ahnam, the secretary of the PIJ’s military council, were both killed on Tuesday.
- “Quiet will be met with quiet. If Israel is attacked or threatened, it will continue to do all it needs to defend itself,” said Tzachi Hanegbi, the head of Israel’s National Security Council, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported on the conflict on the ground in Israel. According to Fox News, more than 800 rockets were fired on Israel in just one 36-hour period.
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© Dominic Moore, 2023
