NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Fighting racial intolerance in New Zealand and beyond
An Israeli air strike has killed a senior commander of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
Baha Abu al-Ata died along with his wife when a missile hit their home, the group said. Four of their children and a neighbour were reportedly injured.
Israel’s prime minister said Abu al-Ata was a “ticking bomb” who was planning to carry out attacks on the country.
At least 150 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza since the killing, which PIJ has vowed to avenge.
Jerusalem (CNN) Approximately 250 rockets have been fired by Gaza militants towards Israel, which has responded with airstrikes on more than one hundred targets across the coastal enclave, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The UN says it is working with Egypt to try to restore a ceasefire and says both sides are putting at risk efforts to relieve the suffering of people in Gaza.
The escalation began Saturday morning with about 50 rockets fired towards Israel within the course of an hour and continued late into the evening.
The IDF said that its Iron Dome aerial defense system had intercepted dozens of the incoming rockets.
In response to the rockets, the IDF said it has carried out airstrikes on about 130 militant targets in Gaza, including a tunnel, rocket launcher sites and other military compounds used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
A new round of hostilities triggered by a botched Israeli covert operation into the Gaza Strip pushed the territory’s fragile security situation to the brink today.
Palestinian militants launched hundreds of rockets towards Israel and Israeli jets carried out bombing raids.
Israel’s military said it had rushed extra infantry troops and air defences to the boundary with Gaza as at least 200 projectiles were launched towards Israeli territory in less than three hours.
At least two projectiles hit houses, while an anti-tank missile hit a bus transporting soldiers near the border, the military said, critically injuring a 19-year-old soldier.
