Senior leadership of Gaza's military wing neutralised: Israel

Jerusalem: After a two-day along attack on Gaza, Israel said the senior leadership of Islamic Jihad's armed wing in Gaza has been "neutralised". The head of the army's operations directorate, Oded Basiok told AFP that Israeli strikes are targetting the Palestinian terror group.

An updated count from health authorities in Hamas Islamist-run Gaza said 24 people including six children died in Israel's attack and 204 people were injured.

Israel on Saturday claimed that it has "irrefutable" evidence that a stray rocket from Islamic Jihad terrorists was responsible for the death of multiple children in Jabalia, northern Gaza. The Palestinians had retaliated with a barrage of rockets to Israel's attack.

Israel's military said its aerial and artillery campaign could last a week and claimed that a "pre-emptive" operation against Islamic Jihad was necessary because the group was planning an imminent attack.

Onlookers are comparing the ongoing fight to the 11-day conflict that devastated Gaza in May 2021. Electricity distribution has come to a halt in Gaza after the sole power station was shut down due to a lack of fuel. Israel has closed its border crossings.

An Israeli military spokesman told AFP that the army is not currently holding ceasefire negotiations. Islamic Jihad's leader in Gaza, Mohammed al-Hindi said the battle is still at its beginning. Taysir al-Jabari, a key commander of the terror group was killed on Friday. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo is talking "around the clock" with both sides to ease the violence.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 and has fought four wars with Israel. Islamic Jihad often acts independently even though it is aligned with Hamas. After Israel killed Baha Abu al-Ata, Jabari's predecessor in 2019, the terror group has been aggressive. Hamas did not join the conflict at the time.