Video shows explosive Israeli airstrike on an apartment block in Gaza, in 'targeted killing' of an Islamic Jihad commander

Bethany Dawson
Updated ·2 min read
244

  • An Israeli air strike killed a top leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

  • PIJ targeted the Jerusalem area with rocket attacks on Friday.

  • Recent fighting has seen hundreds of strikes and rocket exchanges between Israel and Gaza.

An Israeli air strike killed a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, has announced, per BBC News. 

A video the IDF distributed shows a missile being fired into an upper floor of a Gaza apartment block on Friday, followed by an explosion. Israel called the strike a "targeted killing."

Iyad al-Hassani is the sixth Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, leader that Israel has recently killed.

 

BBC News reported that the PIJ put al-Hassani in the post to replace Khalil al-Bahtini, who, along with his child, an Israeli air strike killed on Tuesday. A second person also died in the al-Hassani strike.

Following these deaths, Reuters reported that Israel's national security advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, announced that the IDF is concentrating on attacking Gaza militants rather than working to reach a ceasefire.

Since Tuesday, Israeli and Palestinian forces have been engaged in large-scale missile and rocket exchanges.

Nearly 1,000 rockets and mortars have launched from Gaza over the past four days, with 761 crossing into Israeli territory, according to Israel's military. Most either hit open areas or were shot down by Israel's "Iron Dome" interceptor-missile system.

Israel has hit 254 PIJ targets in Gaza, its military said, the BBC reported.

 

After 12 hours of calm, giving hope that Egypt could broker a ceasefire, Friday's fighting resumed.

Israeli air strikes followed by another salvo of rockets fired from Gaza, some aimed at the Jerusalem area, interrupted Egypt's attempt, the BBC reported.

"The bombing of Jerusalem sends a message," the PIJ said in a statement, AP reported. "What is happening in Jerusalem is not separate from Gaza."

The renewed fighting between Israel and the PIJ, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after Hamas, has killed at least 33 Palestinians, including adult civilians, children, and an 80-year-old Israeli woman.

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