Hamas and Islamic Jihad vow new terrorist attacks
Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip vowed on Tuesday to respond to the Israeli airstrikes that killed three senior members of Islamic Jihad as clashes erupted in the West Bank following the attack.
Background: The Israeli air force conducted airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning targeting leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — an ally of Hamas based in Gaza.
Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the following members of the group’s armed wing — Al-Quds Brigades — were killed:
Khalil al-Bahtini — secretary of Al-Quds Brigades’ military council
Jihad al-Ghanam — head of the “northern region” for Al-Quds Brigades
Tariq Izz ad-Din — leader in Al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank
Islamic Jihad said in another statement to the Hamas-affiliated Safa news agency that the Israeli airstrikes hit residential buildings in Gaza City and Rafah near the border with Egypt. The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said 10 others were killed in the attack, including four women and four children.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also said that they killed Bahtini, Ghana and Din. The Israeli airstrikes came in response to Islamic Jihad firing more than 100 rockets into Israel last week following the death of one of its senior members, Khader Adnan, who died in an Israeli prison after an 87-day hunger strike.
Reactions: Islamic Jihad said in the statement to Safa that a response to the airstrikes is imminent.
“The Palestinian response to this heinous, aggressive massacre will not be delayed. Al-Quds (Brigades) and the resistance will never back down in front of this,” the group said, adding that the strikes “represented a dangerous violation of the cease-fire.”
Hamas responded similarly. The group’s political leader Khaled Meshaal called the strikes a “treacherous crime against all our people that will be met with the firm response by the unified resistance,” according to a statement on Hamas’ website.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other like-minded groups typically refer to themselves as the “resistance.”
The Lebanese military organization Hezbollah also released a statement via its news outlet Al-Manar on Tuesday declaring its “full solidarity” with Islamic Jihad.
Why it matters: The airstrikes constitute only the latest in a series of escalations between Israel and Palestinian armed groups recently. Last week, the IDF killed three Hamas operatives in the West Bank city of Nablus. The three men were responsible for the deadly shooting of three British-Israeli women near a West Bank settlement in April.
The violence in the West Bank continued on Tuesday following the Gaza airstrikes. Israeli forces conducted a raid in the old city of Nablus, IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Twitter. The Palestinian Authority’s WAFA news agency reported that 13 Palestinians were injured during an Israeli military raid in the city. WAFA also reported clashes between the IDF and Palestinians in Hebron in addition to arrests throughout the West Bank.
Source: al-monitor
