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Hamas military chief killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza Strip Hamas military chief killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza Strip
(35 minutes later)
Israel has killed the military commander of Hamas in an air strike on the Gaza Strip, bringing the two sides to the brink of a possible new war. Hamas's military commander has been killed in an Israeli air strike in a move likely to herald a dramatic rise in violence in Gaza.
Ahmed al-Jaabari, who ran the organisation's armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, died along with a passenger after their car was targeted by an Israeli missile. Ahmed al-Jaabari, the head of the Islamist organisation's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, died when his car was struck in Gaza City by a missile after Israel warned it may step up targeted assassinations, having endured almost a week of intense rocket fire from Gaza. Reports suggested three other Palestinians were also killed.
The attack came despite signs that Egypt had managed to broker a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants after five days in which more than 100 missiles were fired out of Gaza and Israel launched repeated air strikes on the enclave. In the hours after the attack on Jaabari, Palestinian witnesses told the Associated Press that airstrikes had hit a series of targets across Gaza City.
Jaabari was the most senior Hamas official killed since the Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago. He has long topped Israel's most-wanted list, and was notorious in Israel, which blamed him for a string of attacks that included the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006. Israel's military spokesman, Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, said the assault could draw cross-border rocket attacks and stretch into days of fighting. "The days we face in the south will, in my estimation, prove protracted," he told Channel 2 TV. "The homefront must brace itself resiliently."
Witnesses said Jaabari had been travelling in a vehicle in Gaza City when the car exploded. Crowds of people and security personnel rushed to the scene, trying to put out the fire that had engulfed the car and left it a charred shell. The target was confirmed by both the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Hamas. In a statement, the IDF said Jaabari was "a senior Hamas operative who served in the upper echelon of the Hamas command", and had been "directly responsible for executing terror attacks against the state of Israel in the past number of years".
Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence service confirmed it had carried out the attack, saying it killed Jaabari because of his "decade-long terrorist activity". Its operation was intended "to severely impair the command-and-control chain of the Hamas leadership, as well as its terrorist infrastructure. This was a surgical operation in co-operation with the Israeli security agency that was implemented on the basis of concrete intelligence and using advanced capabilities."
"The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command-and-control chain of the Hamas leadership," the Israeli military said in a statement. Israeli military sources said the strike had been the result of "precise intelligence" gathered over a period of months. The Israeli air force carried out multiple air strikes on Wednesday in an operation it named Cloud Pillar, suggesting it had launched a continuing offensive.
Immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio, and smaller groups also warned of retaliation. Calls for revenge were broadcast in Gaza after the air strikes, according to Reuters. "Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences," Islamic Jihad said.
"Israel has declared war on Gaza, and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences," Islamic Jihad said. Earlier the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, indicated that the government had decided against a major offensive in Gaza after a three-day period during which militants fired more than 100 rockets.
Hamas police said three air strikes had hit other targets in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah. On Tuesday, he told a meeting of mayors in towns close to the Gaza border that he would choose "the right time to exact the heaviest price … Whoever thinks that they can damage the daily lives of residents of the south, and that they won't pay a heavy price for this, they are mistaken."
Israeli officials had said they were considering assassinating top Hamas officials after a wave of rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip at southern Israel. There had been intense speculation about the possibility of a ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces. But Egyptian mediators persuaded Hamas and other militant groups to sign up to a ceasefire.
Jaabari is the most senior Hamas operative to be killed by Israel for almost four years, since Operation Cast Lead, its three-week assault on Gaza, left around 1,400 Palestinians dead.