BICOM

According to Palestinian medical sources, an Islamic Jihad member was killed and two others injured in an Israeli air strike on Sunday evening in the neighbourhood of Zaitun in East Gaza City. The sources said that IDF forces also shelled positions in central Gaza, where no injuries were reported. The IDF denied launching any strikes on Sunday.

The latest reports came following an escalation in activity along the Gaza-Israel border. On Friday and Saturday, the IDF responded to rocket attacks fired from Gaza into Israel by targeting Hamas positions and smuggling tunnels. Last week, a Grad-type Katyusha rocket struck the city of Beer Sheva. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, last Thursday, warned the leadership in Gaza and said, “I do not suggest that anyone test the State of Israel’s resolve.” 

Meanwhile, a panel probing the 2002 Gaza assassination of a senior Hamas bomb maker that resulted in the deaths of 13 Palestinian civilians said that Israeli military and political officials should not be forced to assume personal responsibility for the operation. The probe justified the strike saying “targeted killing against Salah Shehadeh was imperative because of the increase and escalation in terrorist attacks since 2000, in a manner which led to a situation of actual war, classified as an ‘armed conflict.'” Referring to the loss of civilian casualties the report said, the incident was “unintended, undesired and unforeseen, but did not stem from disregard or indifference to human lives.”