Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 12, including three leaders of armed group

Shafaq News / Israel killed three senior Islamic Jihad commanders in Gaza air strikes and at least nine civilians, including four children, on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, as the Israeli military said it had launched strikes against the militant group.

The air strikes were the latest incident in more than a year of surging violence that has seen repeated Israeli military raids and escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank, amid a spate of Palestinian street attacks on Israelis.

Last week brought a bout of cross border fire after the death in Israeli detention of a hunger striker from Islamic Jihad.

Israel's military said it targeted three senior commanders of Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful armed group in the blockaded coastal enclave, which is controlled by the Islamist militant group, Hamas.

"Any terrorist who harms Israeli citizens will be made to regret it," said Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Israel's military, working with the Shin Bet intelligence service, targeted the leadership of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza in a "precise" operation, he added.

The military said 40 jets took part in the strikes, which it said were timed to suit operational conditions.

"It was a convergence of intelligence, timing and weather," a military spokesperson said.

A Gaza health official said at least 12 people had been killed and 20 wounded in the strikes that hit residential areas in the densely populated strip in which 2.3 million Palestinians live on a patch of 365 square kilometres (140 square miles).

An Israeli military spokesman said the army was looking into reports of civilian deaths but had no immediate comment.

"We're aware of some collateral and we'll learn more as the day goes ahead," he told a briefing with reporters.

Islamic Jihad's armed wing confirmed the deaths of the three commanders, adding: "We will not abandon our positions and the resistance will continue, God willing."

The group identified the commanders killed as Jihad Ghannam, Khalil Al-Bahtini and Tareq Izzeldeen.

The military said it targeted 10 weapon and infrastructure manufacturing sites, including rocket production workshops and a site for making concrete used for tunnels, as well as military compounds belonging to the group.

(Reuters)