Sirens sounded on Sunday in the Jerusalem area for the first time since the start of the ongoing armed escalation between Israel and the Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army said in a brief statement that sirens were fired “in the vicinity of Jerusalem,” while the correspondent of “Al-Arabiya” and “Al-Hadath” reported that two missiles had been intercepted in the vicinity of Jerusalem. For its part, the Islamic Jihad announced that it had fired missiles at Jerusalem.
This is the first time that rockets have been fired at Jerusalem since the start of the ongoing escalation with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
And before that, the Israeli army reported, on Sunday, that it had neutralized the supreme leadership of the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza, following the army announced the killing of Khaled Mansour, commander of the southern region in Gaza. Jihad movement Inside the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in the Strip announced that the death toll in Gaza had risen to 29, including 6 children.
Army spokesman, Avichai Adraee, added in a tweet on “Twitter”, that Mansour was killed in a qualitative and joint operation of the IDF and the Shin Bet in the Rafah area. For its part, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirmed the killing of Mansour, a senior commander of its military wing, in an Israeli air strike targeting him yesterday evening in the city of Rafah.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza also revealed that the raids launched by Israel since Friday resulted in 253 injuries. The Israeli authorities object to this outcome, stressing, for their part, that Palestinian children were killed Saturday by a missile launched by the Islamic Jihad movement towards Israel and failed to reach its target.
This comes as the Israeli army announced that it had arrested regarding 20 members of the Islamic Jihad movement in the occupied West Bank, during raids early in the morning.
The Israeli security cabinet held a session to assess the security situation on the Gaza front. Israel said that the meeting discussed measures to be taken in light of the situation in the south and security preparations to confront any disturbances inside Israel.
“Deadly Blow”
On Friday, Israel launched air raids on the Gaza Strip, killing 7 people, including the activist Taysir al-Jabari, a prominent leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza.
It is noteworthy that the Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Aviv Kohavi, announced on Saturday that his country will deal what he described as a “fatal” blow to the Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip.
During his inspection of the Southern Military Region Command, Kohavi said that the Jihad movement is being pursued, “and is now under attack”, in reference to the military operation that the Israeli army started yesterday, beginning with the liquidation of a prominent leader in the movement.
Israeli soldiers on the Gaza Strip border – Archyde.com
He also added, according to spokesman Avichai Adraei on Twitter: “We have plans of various kinds. We will not allow any organization here, in the north or in the West Bank to prejudice the sovereignty of the State of Israel.”
“It is time for responses. Our response is a clear response, firstly by preventing any sabotage operation, and secondly by delivering a fatal blow to the Islamic Jihad organization,” he added.
proactive operation
Israel launched air strikes on Gaza, on Saturday, to which the Islamic Jihad responded by firing a barrage of missiles.
Tel Aviv said it had to launch a “preemptive” operation once morest the Islamic Jihad movement, stressing that the group was planning an imminent attack following days of tension at the Gaza border.
