by Joshua Marks
Sirens sound in Israeli communities near the border following the killing of the commander and deputy of Islamic Jihad’s launch force.
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| Palestinian Islamic Jihad fires rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, May 10, 2023. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90. |
Sirens sounded in southern Israel on Thursday morning hours after the army announced that it had killed the commander and deputy of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s rocket launching force in Gaza.
The alerts were heard in Kissufim and Nirim, kibbutzim in the northwestern Negev desert adjacent to the Gaza Strip.
Rocket alerts continued throughout the day in communities near the Gaza border as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant instructed the defense establishment to get ready for increased attacks by terrorists in the Strip.
The Israel Air Force on Thursday afternoon killed a fifth PIJ terrorist leader since the start of “Operation Shield and Arrow,” the IDF said in a statement.
Ahmed Abu-Deka, a senior member of the Islamic Jihad rocket launching force, was targeted.
The possibility of intensified rocket fire on Thursday came amid reports that Egypt is trying to broker a ceasefire. Israel was also in contact with other Arab countries on an agreement to end the fighting.
Jerusalem denied Arab media reports suggesting it had agreed to halt targeted killings of PIJ terrorists and hand over the body of PIJ member Khader Adnan, who died in prison last week after an 87-day hunger strike.
As of 2:30 p.m., the Israel Defense Forces reported that Gaza terrorists had fired 547 rockets and mortars at Israel since the start of “Operation Shield and Arrow” on Tuesday morning with the targeted assassinations of three PIJ terrorist leaders.
Out of these 547 launches, 394 projectiles crossed into Israeli territory and 124 fell short in Gaza. Four Palestinian civilians, including a 10-year-old girl, were killed by the failed rocket launches, according to the IDF.
מבצע "מגן וחץ"
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 11, 2023
בעזרת שיתוף פעולה מודיעיני-אווירי ייחודי, מצורף תיעוד מתקיפות צה"ל ברצועת עזה אתמול pic.twitter.com/xgVwf1WLWO
מבצע "מגן וחץ"
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 11, 2023
כלי טיס של צה"ל תקף לפני זמן קצר עמדת תצפית להכוונת שיגורי נ"ט של ארגון הטרור הג'יהאד האסלאמי הפלסטיני במרחב רצועת עזה pic.twitter.com/2dIdruasN9
Israeli aerial defenses intercepted 175 rockets on their way to populated areas.
The IDF said it targeted 166 terrorist sites in the Gaza Strip since the start of the military operation.
מבצע "מגן וחץ"
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 11, 2023
סיכום נתוני מבצע ״מגן וחץ״ נכון להיום לשעה 14:30 pic.twitter.com/i22UpyYDpB
Some 330,000 Israeli children have had their schools shuttered for three days.
The commander of PIJ’s rocket force, Ali Hassan Muhammad Ghali, and two other PIJ operatives were killed Thursday in an early morning air strike on a building in the Sheikh Hamad neighborhood of Khan Younis.
“Ghali was a central figure in Islamic Jihad, as well as responsible for the recent rocket barrages launched against Israel,” the IDF tweeted.
🔴 OPERATIONAL UPDATE: We just targeted Ali Ghali, the commander of Islamic Jihad’s Rocket Launching Force, as well as two other Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 11, 2023
Ghali was a central figure in IJ, as well as responsible for the recent rocket barrages launched against Israel. pic.twitter.com/GToj67UjTT
PIJ vowed to avenge Ghali’s death, publishing a threatening video on Thursday of terrorists preparing for rocket attacks with the message “They will be drowned.”
The Islamic Jihad releases this video preparing rockets with the message “They will be drowned.” To those who criticize Israel for not doing enough to help Gaza– remember that these militants are using money not to help people but to kill civilians.pic.twitter.com/aqrPMEiNuP
— Madeleine Hubbard (@MadeleineHubb) May 11, 2023
Joshua Marks
Source: https://www.jns.org/day-3-gaza-rocket-fire-ongoing-as-5th-top-pij-terrorist-killed-truce-talks-intensify/
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