Israeli and Palestinian Air and Rocket Attacks

(Patria) - Israeli aircraft struck Gaza and Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israeli cities today as fighting resumed for a second day, after more than a year of relative calm along the border.

Israel said on Friday it had launched a special operation against the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, killing one of the group's senior commanders in a surprise daytime airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza City.

Nine other Palestinians were killed in the Israeli strikes, including at least four Islamic Jihad militants and one child, and 79 people were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said it arrested 19 Islamic Jihad militants overnight.

Palestinian militants fired at least 160 rockets across the border, the military said, some toward the commercial hub of Tel Aviv. Israeli air defenses intercepted most of the projectiles, and several people were lightly injured while running to shelters.

Egypt, the United Nations and Qatar have begun mediating an end to the violence, a Palestinian official familiar with the efforts said, "but there is no progress yet," the official said.

A Palestinian Authority official backed by the West condemned the Israeli strikes.

"We call on the international community to intervene and provide protection for our people," Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh said on Twitter.

Further escalation will largely depend on Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, deciding whether to join the fighting.

Tensions rose this week after Israeli forces arrested an Islamic Jihad commander in the West Bank, prompting the group to threaten retaliation.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Friday's strikes prevented an immediate and specific attack by Islamic Jihad.

The border has been largely quiet since May 2021, when 11 days of fierce fighting between Israel and militants killed at least 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel.