Wednesday, May 10, 2023

All eyes on Hamas as IDF awaits reprisal for assassination of Islamic Jihad leaders

More than a day after the Israel Defense Forces launched an operation against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and assassinated three senior members in simultaneous airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, unusually the terror group had yet to respond.

Shortly after 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Israeli forces killed Khalil Bahtini, who commands Islamic Jihad in northern Gaza; Jihad Ghanem, a top official in the group’s military council; and Tareq Izz ed-Din, who Israel said directs Islamic Jihad terror activities in the West Bank from a base in Gaza. The separate strikes on the three took place within seconds, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The airstrikes also left 10 civilians dead, including four children and four women, according to health officials in the Hamas-controlled territory. Islamic Jihad said the wives of the three commanders and a number of their children were among the dead. READ MORE