Published On 7 Aug 20227 Aug 2022
Israel has unleashed a wave of air attacks on Gaza since Friday, killing at least 31 people, including six children.
It has warned that its “preemptive” operation against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad could last a week. Its raids have destroyed apartment buildings and killed two senior officials from the armed group.
Rocket sirens sounded west of Jerusalem on Sunday as rockets were launched into Israel. The Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted 97 percent of Palestinian rockets, the military said, and no casualties had been reported.
What has happened?
- Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said it was necessary to launch the “preemptive” operation against Islamic Jihad, as the group was planning an attack following days of tensions along the border with Gaza.
- The latest round of tensions began after Israeli forces arrested Bassam al-Saadi, an Islamic Jihad commander in the occupied West Bank, on Monday during a raid in the city of Jenin that resulted in the killing of a teenager.
- Israeli forces on Friday bombed an apartment building in the centre of Gaza City, killing Tayssir al-Jabari, Islamic Jihad’s northern commander, and at least nine others, including a five-year-old girl and a 23-year-old woman.
- Israel stopped the planned transport of fuel into Gaza shortly before it launched its attacks, crippling the territory’s lone power plant and reducing the electricity supply to about four hours per day.
- The Israeli military also said it had arrested 19 members of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank on Saturday.
- Rocket sirens and explosions were heard west of Jerusalem on Sunday as dozens of rockets were launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
- In Tel Aviv, witnesses said they could hear booms but there were no reports of sirens.
- The current governing coalition is meaning to look hawkish in the lead-up to another election cycle in November, in which the Likud party headed by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is poised for a return.
