Fourth Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander dies as Israeli airstrikes kill 20

A fourth Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander has been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip which have left young children among the dead.

The death of Ali Ghali, who was in charge of the militant group’s rocket launching force, has brought the number of dead in a series of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip to 25, according to the exclave’s health ministry.

Ghali died when his apartment was hit early on Thursday.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told Israeli Army Radio that two other militants were also killed in the strike and that the rest of the building remained intact.

“The apartment was targeted in a very precise way,” Mr Hagari said. “I hope this leads to a reduction, a blow and a disruption of the Islamic Jihad rocket abilities.”

Palestinian media reports say the strikes targeted the top floor of a building in a residential, Qatari-built complex in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least two people, including the commander.

Islamic Jihad said Ghali was in charge of its rocket squad and a member of its armed group’s decision-making body.

The latest violence is the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in months.

It comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the West Bank.

The health ministry in Gaza said 25 people had been killed since the fighting erupted.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military has said 23 people have been killed in its series of airstrikes.

A state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt, a frequent mediator between the sides, had brokered a ceasefire.

It came after intense fighting on Wednesday when rockets rained down on southern and central Israel and airstrikes pounded Gaza.

But with the violence continuing into the early hours of Thursday, it appeared neither side was backing down.

The Israeli military says it has zeroed in on militants with what it says are precision strikes, but children, among them a four-year-old, were also killed.

Hagari, the military spokesman, told Army Radio that a quarter of the rockets launched during this round of fighting fell in Gaza, killing at least four, including a 10-year-old girl, two 16-year-olds and a 51-year-old man.

The initial Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday that set off the exchange of fire killed three senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) commanders in their homes and at least 10 civilians – most of them women and children.

The PIJ has said the dead also include the wives and some of the children of the three commanders.

The Israeli Defence Forces confirmed that the commanders killed were Khalil Bahitini, who ran Islamic operations in northern Gaza, Tarek Azaldin who allegedly coordinated attacks in the West Bank from Gaza and Jahed Ahman, a senior figure in the group’s military council.

In a televised prime-time address on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel had dealt a harsh blow to the militants.

But he cautioned: “This round is not over.”

“We say to the terrorists and those who send them: We see you everywhere. You can’t hide, and we choose the place and time to strike you,” he said, adding that Israel would also decide when “calm is restored”.

Israel has said its airstrikes are a response to a barrage of rocket fire launched by PIJ last week in response to the death of one of its members from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

In signs that both sides have been trying to show restraint in the violence, Israel avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targeting only the smaller and more militant Islamic Jihad faction.

Hamas, meanwhile, appeared to remain on the sidelines.

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