Following Israeli strikes on sites in the constrained Gaza Strip that resulted in the deaths of one of its military commanders and a child, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has threatened to attack Tel Aviv.
After days of tension followed by the arrest of a Palestinian terrorist leader in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers reportedly struck targets in Gaza on Friday.
Local authorities announced the deaths, and television images displayed smoke coming from a building.
“The Zionist enemy started this aggression and it must expect us to fight non-stop… There will be no truce after this bombing”, Ziad al-Nakhala spoke to Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen TV station from Tehran, where he has recently been travelling.
Tel Aviv, along with all other Zionist cities, will be a target of the resistance’s missiles because “there are no red lines in this battle,” he declared.
“The great jihadist leader Tayseer al-Jabari ‘Abu Mahmud’, who was assassinated in a Zionist assassination in Gaza City,” the PIJ stated in a statement on Friday.
Tayseer is related to Ahmed Al-Jabari, a senior Hamas figure who was assassinated by an Israeli drone in Gaza in 2012.
“The [Israeli army] is currently striking in the Gaza Strip. A special situation has been declared on the Israeli home front”, a statement reads from the Israeli military.
There have been several casualties, according to a representative for the Gaza health ministry, and an emergency has been proclaimed.
Television images showed a structure in the densely populated Strip with black smoke coming from the roof, theGazetteNGR learnt.
A toddler and PIJ militants are among the five Palestinians who have already died, according to a Gaza-based correspondent for The New Arab.
Israel detained Bassam Al-Saadi, a key member of the PIJ, earlier this week during a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin. This led to Israel’s most recent attacks.
It then shut down all border crossings into Gaza as well as a few surrounding roadways out of concern for reprisal attacks by the group, which has a stronghold in Gaza.
Israel’s 2007-starting blockade of Gaza could become more severe, causing the already poor population of the enclave to suffer even more.
The enemy has started a war against us and our people, and we will defend ourselves and our people, according to PIJ.
