According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, fifteen Palestinians were murdered in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli force is targeting members of the Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad.
A five-year-old child, two women, and several PIJ militants, including their leader Taseer Jabari, are among the dead.
Since Friday, the Palestinians have fired over 300 rockets and mortars at Israel, according to an Israeli official.
Israel asserts that it initiated the operations owing to an “imminent threat” posed by PIJ.
Since an 11-day confrontation in May 2021 in which more than 200 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed, the most major outbreak of violence between Israel and Gaza has occurred since then.
This latest operation, codenamed Breaking Dawn, might last a week, according to the Israeli military.
In addition to airstrikes on Gaza, Israel claims that 19 members of the PIJ have been apprehended in West Bank raids.
The sirens warning of incoming missiles continued to sound in Israeli towns on Saturday, as reports of airstrikes in Gaza increased.
Saturday, a man was killed near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian health officials.
To date, however, Hamas, the largest militant organization in the region, which shares a similar ideology with Islamic Jihad and frequently coordinates its actions with it, does not appear to have used its vast rocket arsenal.
As a result, there have been no reports of Israeli airstrikes against Hamas, which would constitute an escalation in violence.
Friday night, Hamas issued resolute statements declaring that “resistance groups” were united. However, because it governs Gaza, Israel has practical concerns that may prevent it from becoming more involved.
Hamas’s calculations could change if, for instance, the number of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza rapidly increases.
If it decides to join the combat, the situation would quickly become much more intense.
If the current situation persists, Egypt, which frequently acts as a mediator between Israel and Gaza, may have a better chance of brokering a ceasefire.
Egyptian media reported on Saturday that Cairo officials were preparing to host a possible PIJ delegation as part of this process.
Since Israel closed its crossings with Gaza a week ago out of concern that Islamic Jihad would retaliate for the arrest of one of its leaders in the northern West Bank, life in the Palestinian territory has already become considerably more difficult.
A spokesman for the electricity company stated that the sole power station in Gaza shut down on Saturday due to a lack of fuel deliveries.
According to an Israeli official, roughly 70 of the nearly 300 rockets and mortars reportedly fired overnight from Gaza into Israel did not reach Israeli territory and instead fell within the Gaza Strip.
The vast majority of missiles that reached Israeli airspace were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, with no Israeli casualties reported, according to Israeli officials.
According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), approximately thirty Islamic Jihad targets have been struck, including two weapons storage facilities and six rocket production sites. According to Palestinian health officials, the strikes have injured over 120 people.
Referring to the initial attack on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid stated that Israel conducted a “precise counterterrorism operation against an imminent threat.”
The IDF stated that its attacks targeted PIJ-affiliated sites, such as the high-rise Palestine Tower in Gaza City, which was struck on Friday by a loud explosion that sent smoke billowing from the structure.
During a visit to the Iranian capital of Tehran, PIJ secretary general Ziyad al-Nakhala made the following statement: “We will respond forcefully to this aggression, and our people will win the ensuing battle.”
“There are no red lines in this battle, and Tel Aviv will come under fire from the resistance’s rockets.”
According to reports, Bassem Saadi, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, was arrested by Israel on Monday evening.
After a wave of attacks by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians that killed 17 Israelis and two Ukrainians, he was detained in the Jenin region as part of an ongoing series of arrest operations. Two of the assailants originated from the district of Jenin.
In his home, the IDF discovered illegal weapons and a substantial sum of money. We have intelligence indicating that there are PIJ operatives in Gaza close to the border who are attempting to attack Israeli civilians; however, we are unable to reveal specifics.
Iran supports PIJ, one of the strongest militant groups operating in Gaza, which has its headquarters in Damascus, the capital of Syria.
It has been responsible for numerous attacks against Israel, including rocket fire and gunfire.
Israel and PIJ engaged in a five-day conflict in November 2019 as a result of the assassination by Israel of a PIJ commander whom Israel claimed was planning an imminent attack. The violence claimed the lives of 34 Palestinians and injured 111 others, while 63 Israelis required medical attention.
Israel reported that 25 of the Palestinians killed were militants, including those killed as they prepared to launch rockets.
