LAST UPDATE | 6 Aug 2022

ISRAEL HIT GAZA with air strikes on Saturday and a Palestinian militant group retaliated with a barrage of rocket fire, in the territory’s worst escalation of violence since a war last year.

Israel has said it was forced to launch a “pre-emptive” operation against Islamic Jihad, insisting the group was planning an imminent attack following days of tensions along the Gaza border.

Health authorities in Gaza, a Palestinian enclave controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, said 12 people have been killed by Israel’s bombardment, including a five-year-old girl, with more than 80 others injured.

Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said he was “deeply concerned about the escalation in and around Gaza and the impact of Israeli strikes on civilians”.

He condemned “the indiscriminate firing of rockets from Gaza affecting civilians” and added: “Ireland calls for de-escalation and the protection of civilians, which is an obligation under international humanitarian law.

“I am particularly concerned about the impact on children. Ireland calls for everybody to act with restraint and reduce tensions.”

Israel’s closure of a key goods crossing four days ago resulted in Gaza’s sole power plant shutting down on Saturday.

Israel and Islamic Jihad have both confirmed the killing of Taysir al-Jabari, a key leader of the militants, in a Friday strike on a building in the west of Gaza city.

Islamic Jihad, a group that is aligned with Hamas but often acts independently, said that initial Israeli bombardment amounted to a “declaration of war” and unleashed a barrage of rockets towards Israel.

The rocket fire and Israeli strikes were continuing on Saturday, risking a repeat of an 11-day conflict in May 2021 that devastated Gaza and forced countless Israelis to rush to bomb shelters.

Daily life in the enclave has come to a standstill, with streets largely deserted and most shops closed.

Mohammed Thabet, spokesman for the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company, said Saturday the power station shut down “due to the fuel shortage”.

Diesel for the plant is usually trucked in from Egypt or Israel, which closed its two border crossings with Gaza on Tuesday citing security concerns.

Escalation, mediation

“Israel isn’t interested in a wider conflict in Gaza, but will not shy away from one either,” Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a nationally televised address on Friday.

Air raid sirens sounded across southern Israel on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.

The Israeli military said the vast majority of 160 rockets fired from Gaza had either fallen within the Palestinian territory, or been intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defence system.

Officials in border areas urged people to stay close to shelters, which have also been opened in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.

Egypt, a historic broker between Israel and armed groups in Gaza, was seeking to mediate and may host an Islamic Jihad delegation later Saturday, Egyptian officials told AFP in Gaza.

But sources within Islamic Jihad denied a ceasefire was on the cards, with one saying: “there is no talk whatsoever of Egyptian mediation and for the movement the focus is on the battlefield.”

The Arab League “condemned in the strongest possible terms the ferocious Israeli aggression against Gaza.”

Hamas has fought four wars with Israel since seizing control of Gaza in 2007, including the conflict last May.

Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad are considered terrorist organisations by much of the West.

A flare up with Islamic Jihad came in 2019, following Israel’s killing of Baha Abu al-Ata, Jabari’s predecessor. Hamas did not join the fray in that episode.

Hamas’s moves now could prove crucial, with the group facing pressure from some to restore calm in order to improve economic conditions in Gaza.

Five-year-old girl

Mohammed Abu Salameh, the director of Shifa, Gaza City’s main hospital, said medics are facing “acute shortages of medical supplies”.

On Friday, the health ministry reported “a five-year-old girl, targeted by the Israeli occupation” was among those killed.

The girl, Alaa Kaddum, had a pink bow in her hair and a wound on her forehead, as her body was carried by her father at her funeral.

Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht said “we are assuming about 15 killed in action” in Gaza, referring to Palestinian combatants.

Israeli tanks were lined up along the border, after the military said Thursday it was reinforcing its troops.

The measures followed the arrest in the occupied West Bank of two senior members of Islamic Jihad, including Bassem al-Saadi, who Israel accuses of orchestrating recent attacks.

Israel on Saturday broadened its operation against Islamic Jihad, announcing the arrest of 19 people it said were members of the group in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has conducted a near relentless wave of often deadly raids inside the West Bank since mid-March in response to lethal attacks on Israeli citizens.