MOSCOW: A high-ranking commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Khaled Mansour, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the militant group’s armed wing, Al-Quds Brigades, said.
On Friday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed that a senior Islamic Jihad commander in northern Gaza, Tayseer Jabari, was killed in an Israeli airstrike that day.
Al-Quds Brigades announced on Sunday morning that its high-ranking commander in southern Gaza, Khaled Mansour, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the city of Rafah on Saturday night, reported Sputnik.
The IDF launched an operation dubbed Breaking Dawn against the Palestinian movement of Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
After Jabari was killed in an Israeli strike, Ziyad Nakhalah, the leader of Islamic Jihad, threatened to retaliate by launching a missile attack on Tel Aviv.
Israel has since been repelling missile attacks and launching new attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said on Saturday that at least 24 people had been killed and 203 others suffered injuries as a result of the airstrikes targetting the Gaza Strip under Israel’s operation Breaking Dawn.
Khaled al-Batsh, head of Islamic Jihad’s politburo, told journalists on Saturday that Islamic Jihad has no other choice than to defend itself and the Palestinian people from Israel, which bears responsibility for the current escalation.
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, after assessing the situation around the Gaza Strip with the participation of the heads of law enforcement agencies, ordered the military department to continue the Breaking Dawn operation on Saturday.
The IDF press office told Sputnik that the Israeli forces are preparing for the Breaking Dawn operation in the Gaza Strip to continue for one week.-Bernama
