leader of Islamic Jihad group killed by Israeli army, 25 dead in Gaza in two days

The Israeli army killed a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement on Thursday, May 11 before dawn, in a new strike on the Gaza Strip. The Jewish state’s military operations have killed 25 people in this Palestinian enclave since Tuesday, according to the Palestinian authorities. The ongoing escalation is the most serious between Palestinian armed groups in Gaza and the Israeli army since August 2022.

Islamic Jihad has confirmed the death of a senior official of its armed wing, the al-Quds Brigades. The Islamist group, considered terrorist by Israel and the European Union, has fired several hundred rockets since Wednesday, having so far caused no injuries in Israel. He claimed that “Israeli assassinations (would stay) not go unpunished and [que] all options (were) on the table for resistance”.

Islamic Jihad had already promised a “response of the same magnitude as the crimes” of the Jewish state, after the death of three of its military leaders in Israeli strikes which left 15 dead in Gaza on Tuesday. Four children were among the victims. According to local authorities, Israeli army operations have since left ten additional dead, including a 10-year-old girl and four fighters from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).