Air Strikes, Rocket Attacks Push Israel, Gaza into Second Day of Fighting

Rockets are fired by fighters from Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in east Gaza City, 05 August 2022. (EPA)
Rockets are fired by fighters from Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in east Gaza City, 05 August 2022. (EPA)
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Air Strikes, Rocket Attacks Push Israel, Gaza into Second Day of Fighting

Rockets are fired by fighters from Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in east Gaza City, 05 August 2022. (EPA)
Rockets are fired by fighters from Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in east Gaza City, 05 August 2022. (EPA)

Israeli aircraft struck in Gaza and Palestinians fired rockets deep into Israel on Saturday, a day after an Israeli operation against the "Islamic Jihad" militant group set off a cross-border flare-up that ended more than a year of relative calm.

Islamic Jihad fired rocket salvoes as far as Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, after Israel killed one of the group's senior commanders in a surprise daytime air strike on a Gaza City tower on Friday.

Israel struck more Islamic Jihad militants and weapon depots hidden in residential areas on Saturday, the military said. Bombings of at least five houses sent huge clouds of smoke and debris into the air, as explosions rocked Gaza and ambulances rushed through the streets.

The Israeli strikes have killed 15 Palestinians, including at least four other Islamic Jihad militants and three civilians, among them a child, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. It added scores more had been wounded.

Palestinian militants fired at least 200 rockets at Israel - most of them intercepted, setting off air raids sirens and sending people running to bomb shelters. There were no reports of serious casualties, the Israeli ambulance service said.

Egypt said it was engaged in intensive talks to calm the situation. Further escalation would largely depend on whether Hamas, the movement which controls Gaza, would opt to join the fighting.

An Egyptian intelligence delegation headed by Major General Ahmed Abdelkhaliq arrived in Israel on Saturday and would be travelling to Gaza for mediation talks, two Egyptian security sources said. They were hoping to secure a day's ceasefire in order to carry out the talks, the sources added.

Islamic Jihad signaled no ceasefire was imminent.

"The time now is for resistance, not a truce," a group official told Reuters. The group has not said how many of its members have been killed since Friday.

Concern

Around 2.3 million Palestinians are packed into the narrow coastal Gaza Strip, with Israel and Egypt tightly restricting movement of people and goods in and out of the enclave and imposing a naval blockade, citing security concerns.

Israel stopped the planned transport of fuel into Gaza shortly before it struck on Friday, crippling the territory's lone power plant and reducing electricity to around 8 hours per day and drawing warnings from health officials that hospitals would be severely impacted within days.

The frontier had been largely quiet since May 2021, when 11 days of fierce fighting between Israel and militants left at least 250 in Gaza and 13 in Israel dead.

UN and EU Mideast envoys expressed concern about the violence and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority condemned Israel's attacks. US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said on Twitter that "Israel has a right to protect itself."

Gaza streets were largely deserted on Saturday afternoon. At the site where top Islamic Jihad commander Tayseer al-Jaabari was killed, rubble, glass and furniture were strewn along the street.

In Israel, border town streets were largely empty while brushfires sparked by rockets spread through nearby fields.

Islamic Jihad said it had fired a missile at Israel's main international gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, but the rocket fell short around 20 kilometers (12 miles) away. The Civil Aviation Authority said the airport was operating normally.

Tensions rose this week after Israeli forces arrested an Islamic Jihad commander in the occupied West Bank, drawing threats of retaliation from the group. The military said it had apprehended 19 more members of the group there on Saturday.

Israeli Defense Minister said dozens of the group's rocket facilities in Gaza had been destroyed. Prime Minister Yair Lapid said the operation thwarted an imminent attack by Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Iran and designated as a terrorist organization by the West.

Israeli political analysts said the military operation provided Lapid with an opportunity to bolster his security credentials ahead of a Nov. 1 election.



UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
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UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)

The UN aid chief said Wednesday that recent "horrifying scenes" of Gazans being killed while seeking food aid were the result of "deliberate choices that have systematically deprived" them of essentials to survive.

A US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of its facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centers were "considered combat zones".

The announcement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation follows a string of deadly incidents near the distribution sites it operates.

On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.

"The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat," UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

"Emergency medical teams have confirmed treating hundreds of trauma cases. Yesterday alone, dozens were declared dead at hospitals after Israeli forces said they had opened fire.

"This is the outcome of a series of deliberate choices that have systematically deprived two million people of the essentials they need to survive."

He echoed the call by UN chief Antonio Guterres for immediate independent investigations, saying they were not isolated incidents, and the perpetrators must be held accountable.

"No-one should have to risk their life to feed their children," said Fletcher.

The GHF began operations a week ago, but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Meanwhile the United Nations has described the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, as a trickle.

"We must be allowed to do our jobs: we have the teams, the plan, the supplies and the experience," said Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

"Open the crossings -- all of them. Let in life-saving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in.

"Ensure our convoys aren't held up by delays and denials. Release the hostages. Implement the ceasefire."