May 3, 2024
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel carried out a series of targeted airstrikes in densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing three senior commanders of the Islamic Jihad militant group and at least 10 civilians, Palestinian health officials said. Two of the commanders' wives, several of their children and other bystanders were among the dead.
The attacks hit the top floor of an apartment building and a house in Gaza City, and a third house in the southern town of Rafah. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20 people were wounded, and that some were in serious or critical condition.
Israel said it targeted several militant training sites as well before the airstrikes halted at daybreak.
Such targeted killings are rare, and in the past, Palestinian militant groups have retaliated with heavy barrages of rocket fire.
In anticipation of renewed rocket fire, the Israeli military advised residents of communities within 25 miles of Gaza to stay close to designated bomb shelters.
The military said the three targeted men had been responsible for recent rocket fire toward Israel.
It identified them as Khalil Bahtini, the Islamic Jihad commander for northern Gaza Strip; Tareq Izzeldeen, the group's intermediary between its Gaza and West Bank members; and Jehad Ghanam, the secretary of the Islamic Jihad's military council.
The Iran-backed Islamic Jihad, which is smaller than Gaza's ruling Hamas group, confirmed the three were among the dead.
In its statement, the group said the wives of the three commanders were killed, but witnesses and family members said the wives of only two commanders were killed. The Palestinian Health Ministry said the 13 dead included four women and four children.
