Israel arrests 19 militants of Gaza after tension rises

• Israel claims to have apprehended 19 members of Islamic Jihad in operations in the occupied West Bank.
• Hundreds of rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel overnight, with the vast majority intercepted.
• Israeli military has warned that the operation, dubbed Breaking Dawn, might take a week.

Israel claims to have apprehended 19 members of the Palestinian organization Islamic Jihad in Gaza operations throughout the occupied West Bank after airstrikes on Gaza targets.

The air strikes killed eleven individuals, including a toddler and PIJ commander Tayseer Jabari.

Israel said the attacks were in response to a “immediate threat” from the organization.

Hundreds of rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel overnight, with the vast majority intercepted, according to Israel’s military.

The recent clashes between Israel and Gaza are the most violent in over a year.

Before an 11-day fight in May 2021, more than 200 Palestinians and a dozen Israelis were killed.

On Saturday, sirens warning of incoming rockets continued to blast in Israeli communities, despite new claims of Israeli air attacks in Gaza aimed against PIJ fighters.

Palestinian health authorities verified the death of a man in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip’s south.

But, so far, Hamas, the region’s largest terrorist organisation, which has similar philosophy to Islamic Jihad and often coordinates its attacks with it, does not seem to be shooting from its enormous rocket arsenal.

As a consequence, there have been no reports of Israeli air attacks against Hamas.

On Friday night, Hamas released a loud statement declaring that “resistance groups” were unified. However, since it oversees Gaza, it has practical constraints that may prevent it from becoming further engaged.

Life in the Palestinian territories has already gotten considerably more difficult in the last week, with Israel closing its borders with Gaza out of concern that Islamic Jihad would retaliate for the arrest of one of its commanders in the northern West Bank.

If it decides to join the conflict, things will rapidly get much more heated.

If things continue as they are, Egypt, which often serves as a go-between for Israel and Gaza, may have a greater chance of brokering a ceasefire.

According to Egyptian media, Cairo authorities were ready to welcome a prospective delegation of PIJ delegates as part of that procedure on Saturday.

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