Three Palestinians were killed at dawn Thursday, including a leader in the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza, bringing to at least 25 the number of Palestinians who have been killed since Tuesday as a result of Israeli raids.
A video clip spread on social media showing a Palestinian child miraculously escaping from death after shrapnel from a missile fired by the Israeli army fell next to him on Wednesday.
Three Palestinians were killed at dawn on Thursday, including a leader in the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza, bringing to at least 25 the number of Palestinians who have been killed since Tuesday as a result of Israeli raids.
On Wednesday, Israel and Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip exchanged shelling, killing four people in Gaza, the day after 15 Palestinians were killed in Israeli raids that targeted three military commanders in the Islamic Jihad movement, and hours after two Palestinians were killed by Israeli army bullets in the occupied West Bank.
This heralds a new escalation between the Hebrew state and the armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, the most dangerous since August 2022.
And the Islamic Jihad Movement stressed in a statement that “the Israeli assassinations will not go unnoticed,” adding that “all options are on the table of the resistance.”
Since the beginning of January, more than 125 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in confrontations, military operations and attacks, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli and Palestinian sources.
These numbers include fighters and civilians, including minors, from the Palestinian side. On the Israeli side, the majority of the dead were civilians, including minors and three Israeli Arabs.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967.
