Israel kills Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, sparking reprisal rocket attacks
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Version 0 of 9. Militant group launches retaliatory rocket fire after Baha Abu al-Ata killed with his wife in their home Israel killed a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander in a strike in Gaza overnight on Monday, a rare targeted assassination that immediately prompted rounds of retaliatory rocket fire. Baha Abu al-Ata, 42, was killed with his wife in their home by an airstrike, the Iran-backed group said in a statement. Two others were wounded. An Israeli army statement accused Abu al-Ata of coordinating repeated rocket launches, as well as sniper fire into Israel over the past year and said he was preparing further attacks. It referred to him as a “ticking bomb”. “Abu al-Ata was promoting preparations to commit immediate terror attacks in various ways towards Israeli civilians and [Israel Defense Forces] troops during the recent few days,” the statement said. His killing, it added, was a “direct act to remove an imminent threat”. Targeted assassinations against enemy factions, once a mainstay of Israeli policy, were largely abandoned in recent years as they often served to raised tensions while senior posts opened by dead leaders were soon filled. Palestinian Islamic Jihad warned on Tuesday that the group’s “inevitable retaliation will rock the Zionist entity,” referring to Israel. Rocket sirens in Israel sounded in multiple cities near the Gaza frontier, but even as far north as areas to the south of Tel Aviv. It was not clear if there were any casualties. The office of Benjamin Netanyahu said that the prime minister had signed off on the killing. It also comes just days after Naftali Bennett, a hardline nationalist who has been calling for more aggressive action in Gaza, was named Israeli defence minister. Bennett, too, signed off on the attack. Several Palestinian militant groups operate from the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which holds power in the enclave, has fought three wars with Israel but has in recent months agreed to truce agreements that have mostly held. Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second most-powerful group, is backed by Israel’s major foe, Iran. While the group is allied with Hamas, Islamic Jihad militants have at times ignored the truce. Reuters contributed to this report |