Israel, Palestinians trade fire in major Gaza escalation

GAZA CITY: Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Saturday and a Palestinian group retaliated with a barrage of rocket fire, in the territory’s worst escalation of violence since a war last year.

Health authorities in Gaza, a Palestinian enclave controlled by Hamas, said 10 people have been killed by Israel’s bombardment, including a five-year-old girl, with 79 others injured.

Early on Saturday Israel broadened its operation against Islamic Jihad, a group that is aligned with Hamas but often acts independently.

The Israeli army announced the arrest of 19 people it said were members of the group in the occupied West Bank, alongside the arrest of one other person.

Israel and Islamic Jihad have both confirmed the killing of Taysir al-Jabari, a key leader of the group, in a Friday strike on a building in the west of Gaza city.

Islamic Jihad said that initial Israeli bombardment amounted to a “declaration of war”, before it unleashed a barrage of rockets towards Israel.

The rocket fire and Israeli strikes were continuing early Saturday, risking a repeat of an 11-day conflict in May 2021 that devastated Gaza and forced countless Israelis to rush to bomb shelters.

Air raid sirens sounded across southern Israel early Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage, with many rockets intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defence system.

Officials in border areas urged people to stay close to shelters, which have also been opened in Tel Aviv.

Egypt, a historic broker between Israel and armed groups in Gaza, was seeking to mediate and may host an Islamic Jihad delegation later Saturday, Egyptian officials told AFP in Gaza.

Hamas has fought four wars with Israel since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, including the conflict last May.

A flare up with Islamic Jihad came in 2019, following Israel’s killing of Baha Abu al-Ata, Jabari’s predecessor. The sides exchanged fire for several days without Hamas joining the fray.