The night did not calm the renewed tension between Israel and the Islamic Jihad. The Israeli forces continued to bombard Gaza and the armed group for its part sent rockets towards the Jewish State in the early hours of this Saturday.
Israel also announced in the early hours of Saturday morning the arrest of 19 members of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank. Twenty people were arrested by soldiers and agents of the Shin Bet security services, “of which 19 are members associated with the Palestinian terrorist organization Islamic Jihad”, the Israeli army said in a press release.
Before this last night sequence, the Israeli army had estimated to have killed 15 fighters of the armed group in its strikes which began Friday afternoon, targeting in particular weapons manufacturing sites, according to it. The Ministry of Health in Gaza reported ten dead, “including a five-year-old girl”, and 79 injured. This is the worst confrontation between the Jewish state and armed organizations in Gaza since the eleven-day war in May 2021, which left 260 dead on the Palestinian side, including combatants, and 14 dead in Israel, including a soldier, according to local authorities.
The shooting continued all night
The Israeli army continued until dawn its strikes across the enclave which targeted sites belonging to the Islamic Jihad, in particular of manufacture of weapons, according to it. Shooting from Gaza also continued, without causing any casualties or damage, according to the army.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds brigades, said on Friday after a salvo of more than 100 rockets towards Israeli soil that it was only a “first response” to the assassination of a of its leaders in an Israeli strike.
“Israel conducted a precise counterterrorism operation against an immediate threat,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on television. “Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy the State of Israel and kill innocent Israelis. (…) We will do whatever it takes to defend our people,” he added.
Egypt offers mediation
For its part, Egypt is trying to mediate to calm tensions in Gaza, multiple sources assured Saturday. An Egyptian security source said Cairo’s mediation efforts had been ongoing since Friday, when Israel launched attacks against what it described as Islamic Jihad targets. “We hope to reach a consensus for a return to calm as soon as possible,” the source said.
Israeli army spokesman Richard Hecht earlier referred to Egyptian mediation when he told reporters about the shelling, without giving details. An Egyptian source said for his part that an Islamic Jihad delegation could go to Cairo this Saturday. This organization is considered terrorist by Israel, the United States and the European Union.