Tit-for-tat strikes after Gaza cease-fire sees violence return

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories - Israel launched fresh strikes against Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, the Israeli army said on Friday, weakening a cease-fire put in place after fighting this week killed 34 Palestinians in exchanges of fire.

The cease-fire began on Thursday morning following two days of deadly violence in the Gaza Strip triggered by an Israeli strike on an Islamic Jihad commander.

The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, told reporters that new overnight strikes were underway on Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful Palestinian militant group in Gaza after Hamas.

The strikes came after five rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza - also after the cease-fire came into effect - with two of them intercepted by air defenses, according to the army.

"The IDF views the violation of the cease-fire and rockets directed at Israel with great severity," the army said in a news release.

Israel's military was prepared to "continue operating as necessary against all attempts to harm Israel civilians", it said.

Two injured citizens were being treated in hospital in the southern part of the territory, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

The cease-fire brokered by Egyptian and UN officials, the usual mediators between Gaza and Israel, was agreed as the flare-up raised fears of a new all-out conflict.

During the day on Thursday, normal life had resumed quietly in Israeli regions near the Gaza border, while in Gaza, citizens had also embraced the return of relative calm.

"We hope for peace; we don't want war," said Mahmoud Jarda, an inhabitant of the enclave.

Bomb shelters

The escalation began early on Tuesday with Israel's targeted killing of a top Islamic Jihad commander, Baha Abu al-Ata, whom it accused of being behind rocket fire and other attacks.

The violence also came at a politically sensitive time for Israel, with no new government in place since a September election ended in deadlock.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Ata "was killed alongside dozens of terrorists" after the strike on his home, adding: "Our enemies got the message: We can reach anyone, even in their bed."

That strike triggered almost immediate retaliatory rocket fire from Islamic Jihad at Israel, setting off air-raid sirens and sending Israelis rushing to bomb shelters in the country's south and central regions.

Israel's military said nearly 450 rockets had been fired at its territory since Tuesday morning and air defenses had intercepted dozens of them in fireballs high in the sky.

No Israelis were killed. Israeli medics said they had treated some 63 people as of Wednesday night for mild injuries and stress.

Violent escalation

Islamic Jihad has said several more of its members were among those killed in the fighting this week.

Palestinian officials said eight members of the same family, including five children, were killed in an Israeli strike in the central Gaza Strip.

Israel's military said the man targeted and killed in that strike was an Islamic Jihad rocket unit commander.

Relatives, neighbors and an Islamic Jihad spokesman disputed that he belonged to the militia, with some saying he had previously worked as a Palestinian Authority military police officer.

"This is a war crime," said neighbor Adan Abu Abdallah. "You are killing innocent children, sleeping at home."

Agencies

(China Daily 11/16/2019 page8)