Gaza: The death toll from the Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip has risen to 31, as it entered the fourth day, amid heavy shelling in separate areas at night.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement, “Among the martyrs were seven children and four women, while 93 citizens were injured, including 32 children and 17 women.”
Gaza rockets kills one Israeli, injures 11
An Israeli man was killed as rockets from Gaza hit a residential building in southern Israel, after two Palestinian rocket commanders were killed by Israeli airstrikes on Thursday.
The rocket hit the second floor of a four-storey residential building on Thursday afternoon in Rehovot, a city 25 km south of Tel Aviv, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement issued by Israel’s Fire and Rescue Services.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service identified the fatality as a male resident of Rehovot. The Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot said in a statement that nine people were injured in the building and needed hospital care.
In the southern regional council of Eshkol, a man, identified by the Magen David Adom as a 30-year-old foreign national, was injured by shrapnel as a rocket hit a community.
In the regional council of Sdot Negev, another rocket hit the backyard of a residential house, lightly injuring an 82-year-old Israeli woman, according to Magen David Adom.
The rocket fire followed the killing of Ali Hassan Ghali, the commander of the rocket force of the Islamic Jihad, and his deputy, Ahmed Abu Daqqa, by two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip earlier in the day.
At least 547 rockets were fired toward southern and central Israel since the fighting began on Tuesday, with 394 of them crossing into Israeli territory, according to official Israeli figures.
‘The battle will continue…’: Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday night that Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip will “continue as long as necessary”, amid the worst spate of violence between Israel and the Palestinians in months.
Netanyahu made the remarks after a security assessment in the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet intelligence agency’s director Ronen Bar, army chief Herzi Halevi and other top security officials, Xinhua news agency reported.
Netanyahu and Gallant instructed the army and Shin Bet “to continue to exact a heavy price” from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to a statement issued on their behalf. “The campaign will continue as long as necessary,” it added.
The exchange of fire between Israel and the joint chamber of military operations, which comprises several Palestinian factions’ armed wings, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), came after a surprising Israeli airstrike on Tuesday in the Gaza Strip killed three senior PIJ leaders.
According to Palestinian sources, Egypt, Qatar, and the UN are mediating a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups, including the PIJ, but fail to reach an agreement on ending this round of tension.
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