Israeli air strike kills missile commander in Gaza
During a pre-dawn Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, a top Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commander and one other person were confirmed to be killed on Thursday.
The attack targeted an apartment on the fifth floor of a building in Hamad Residential City, near Khan Younis in the south of the strip, reports BBC.
On Wednesday, militants in Gaza fired more than 460 rockets at Israel.
The Israeli military hit more than 130 militant targets in Gaza, in the heaviest fighting in nine months.
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According to the reports, Palestinian medical sources estimate the death toll from fighting this week is now at least 24, including three other PIJ commanders.
Several people were hurt in Israel rushing to shelters as the rockets were fired from Gaza.
The armed wing of the PIJ revealed that the head of its missile unit, Ali Hassan Ghali, also known as Abu Muhammad, was killed in Thursday morning's attack.
PIJ, the the second biggest militant group in Gaza after Hamas, has sworn to avenge the deaths of Palestinians killed.
It was confirmed by the Israel military that Ghali and two "other Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza" were the chosen targets for the attack.
The commander was described the commander as a central figure in the PIJ who had been "responsible for the recent rocket barrages launched against Israel".
The night before the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel's campaign was not over.
"We have hit Islamic Jihad with the most significant blow it has ever suffered," he said, referring to the killing of the three PIJ commanders on Tuesday.
Egypt had announced that it has had brokered a ceasefire, hwoever there was no immediate confirmation from the two sides.
An umbrella organisation representing armed factions in Gaza earlier warned that "if Israel increases its aggression, dark days await it", says BBC.
This week's air strikes were the deadliest since three days of hostilities between Israel and PIJ last August, in which 49 Palestinians were killed in Gaza.
PIJ has been responsible for many of the rocket attacks on Israel in recent years and is sworn to Israel's destruction.
There was a serious flare-up last week, as PIJ and other groups fired more than 100 rockets into Israel over two days, following the death in an Israeli prison of a Palestinian hunger striker. The Israeli military carried out air strikes on sites it said were linked to Hamas in response.
Tensions also remained high in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, after Israel carried out arrest raids.
Two Palestinians were killed in the town of Qabatiya by Israeli forces, who said the pair had fired at them. An Israeli soldier was also seriously wounded during a separate exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen in Tubas.
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