Gaza City: As many as 10 Palestinians, including a 5-year old girl, have been killed in the latest Israeli attack on Gaza.
Among those killed is also Taysir al-Jabari, a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group.
Al-Jabari - a commander of the al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Jihad, died in an air raid on an apartment in the Palestine Tower in the centre of Gaza City, al-Quds Brigade said, according to Al Jazeera.
The Israeli military says it is attacking targets in the Gaza Strip in response to threats from a Palestinian militant group there, BBC reported.
The Israeli raids on Gaza Friday followed days of tensions after Israel arrested a senior PIJ member in the occupied West Bank.
The Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) had threatened to hit back by bombing central Israel.
The health ministry in Gaza confirmed at least 10 people were killed including al-Jabari and a five-year-old girl. At least 55 people were wounded and being treated at hospitals as a result of the Israeli raids.
Multiple blasts could be heard and seen throughout Gaza. Israeli reconnaissance drones could be heard hovering over the besieged enclave.
Attacks also struck the southern areas of Khan Younis and Rafah, as well as the al-Shuja’iya neighbourhood, Al Jazeera reported.
Earlier on Thursday Israel's military had announced that it was sending more troops to the area near Gaza in case there were possible reprisal attacks following the arrest of the PIJ member.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Thursday that after evaluating the situation in the region, it decided to add extra soldiers to its Gaza division to "improve the IDF's readiness in the area", Xinhua news agency reported.
IDF publishes a video of the airstrike on senior Islamic Jihad commander, Tayseer Jabari in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/cySVQsg3Bt— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) August 5, 2022
IDF publishes a video of the airstrike on senior Islamic Jihad commander, Tayseer Jabari in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/cySVQsg3Bt
The reinforcement included artillery, infantry, armoured and combat engineering units as well as special forces units, according to the IDF.
On Thursday morning, local authorities in Israel blocked roads and the Israeli army closed the Erez Crossing, the main passage between Israel and Gaza, for the third consecutive day.
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