The Israeli attack killed another Islamic Jihad commander, who responded with an attack on Jerusalem

An Israeli air strike killed a commander of the Palestinian armed group of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the fighters announced on Sunday. This is Khaled Mansour, who led the group’s operations with Iranian support in the southern Gaza Strip. He was there second boss assassinated in a growing cross-border conflict.

Mansour died Saturday night, the day after another Israeli attack killed the commander of the militant group in the north. The fighting, which has already killed 29 Palestinians, has included rockets fired at Israel and marks the worst episode of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants since the end of an 11-day war in 2021.

Islamic Jihad, for its part, responded this Sunday with the launch of a series of rockets from Gaza in the direction of JerusalemAlthough they did not reach the city, they activated anti-aircraft alarms in surrounding communities.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the army will continue to hit targets in the Gaza Strip “in a precise and responsible manner to minimize damage to non-combatants. The operation will continue for as long as necessary.”

Meanwhile, tensions could be exacerbated by the celebration of a Jewish holiday in which ultra-nationalist Israeli lawmakers planned to visit a sensitive place of worship in Jerusalem known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Shrine. Such visits can be a common trigger for clashes between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Al-Qdus Brigades of Islamic Jihad confirmed Sunday that the attack in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, had killed Mansour and two other militants. The bombing also killed five civilians, including a child and three women.destroying several houses.

Gaza’s health ministry has reported 29 deaths so far in coastal fighting on Sunday, including six children and four women. At least 253 people had been injured by Sunday morning.

However, Islamic Jihad militants continued to fire rockets at Israel and the Israeli army continued airstrikes in Gaza. the intensity of the fire seemed to diminish on Sunday morning. Air raid sirens sounded Sunday in the Jerusalem area for the first time since last year’s war between Palestinian militants and Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Jews celebrated Tisha B’av on Sunday, a solemn fasting day that commemorates the destruction of biblical temples and draws thousands to Jerusalem to pray. Israeli police said in mid-morning that several hundred Jews had already ascended the Temple Mount.

Police described the situation as calm as Jews prayed at the Western Wall, considered the holiest place where Jews can pray.

In Palestinian cities of the West Bank, Israeli security forces said they arrested about 19 suspected Islamic Jihad members during overnight raids. Israeli forces said their troops were not injured in these procedures, in which they used “riot dispersal methods” when Palestinians threw stones and makeshift bombs at them, as well as firing at the troops.

The beginning of the fighting

The clashes began on Friday when Israel killed a prominent Islamic Jihad commander in a series of attacks that authorities said were aimed at preventing an impending assault.

Hamas, a larger armed group that governs Gaza, appeared to have stayed out of the conflict for now and has limited its response.

Israel and Hamas fought a war just a year ago, one of four major conflicts and minor battles they waged for 15 years, and one that took a heavy toll on the impoverished territory where two million Palestinians live.

The Israeli army said a stray rocket launched Saturday afternoon by Palestinian militants killed several civilians, including children, in the northern Gaza city of Jabaliya. The army said it concluded “without doubt” after an investigation that the fire was due to the failed launch of Islamic Jihad. There was no official Palestinian comment on the incident.

A Palestinian health worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said at least six people, three of them children, were killed in the blast.

The Israeli attacks on Saturday killed a 75-year-old woman and injured six others who were preparing to attend a wedding. The airstrikes also destroyed several homes in the Gaza Strip, some of which belonged to members of the Islamic Jihad.

LGaza’s only power plant shut down on Saturday at noon due to lack of fuel. Israel has kept border crossings to that region closed since Tuesday.

Gazans now had just four hours of electricity a day, increasing their reliance on private generators and exacerbating the territory’s chronic energy crisis in the hottest part of the summer.

The Israeli army reported this Sunday at least 585 rockets were fired from Gaza by the YIP since the start of the current peak of tension on Friday, which so far has resulted in 29 deaths – all Palestinians – and over 250 injured.

Of the total shells fired from Gaza, 470 passed through Israel and 115 struck inside the Strip itself before crossing the separation barrier.

Until now Israel has suffered very few hits in inhabited areas and according to the Army, the Iron Dome anti-aircraft defense system has a 97% success rate, with 185 interceptions. The remaining rockets landed in uninhabited areas of the country.

With information from EFE and AP.

IS