Israel-Gaza violence spirals after Israel kills top commander

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Palestinians mourned a top Islamic Jihad commander killed in Gaza on Tuesday (November 12) in a rare targeted strike in the Gaza Strip

Israel killed Baha Abu Al-Atta of the Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group

The group said Al-Atta's wife was also killed in the blast that ripped through their building in Gaza City before dawn.

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu accused Al-Atta of carrying out a series of cross-border attacks and planning more.

The death of Al-Atta looked likely to pose a new challenge for Gaza's ruling Hamas faction which has mostly tried to maintain a truce with Israel since a 2014 war.

Israel casts rising Gaza tensions as part of a wider regional struggle with Iran.

Syrian state media said Israel also launched a missile attack, targeting the home of an Islamic Jihad official in Damascus, killing two people, including one of his sons.

Palestinian militants on Tuesday responded by launching a salvo of rockets into Israel, setting off sirens as far as Tel Aviv.