Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed 12 people Tuesday morning, according to the health ministry of the heavily besieged coastal Palestinian enclave run by the Islamist group Hamas.

The Palestinian Islamic Holy War confirmed in a statement the deaths of three members of the Al-Quds Brigades. He named them Jihad Ghannam, secretary of the military council of the Al-Quds Brigades, Khalil al-Bakhtani, a member of the same council, and Tarek Ezzedine, one of the “combat leaders” of the movement in the occupied West Bank. who coordinated from the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed 12 people, including “children”, and injured 20 more, according to the health ministry of the besieged coastal Palestinian enclave run by the Islamist group Hamas.

Rescue work continues in areas affected by the Israeli military, the ministry said in a statement released around 05:30. [σ.σ. τοπική ώρα και ώρα Ελλάδας].

“We mourn the leaders, their wives and some of their children who were killed” as a result of this “cowardly Zionist crime,” the Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement, emphasizing that “the blood of the martyrs will increase.” [την] definition of movement.

He added that Israel “ridiculed all the initiatives of the mediators, the resistance will take revenge on the leaders” killed overnight.

In Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, an AFP photojournalist saw the body of a man identified as Jihad Ghannam. Sources close to the movement also told the Reuters news agency that his wife was also among the dead.

For their part, the Israeli military said it had carried out strikes against “targets” belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In Gaza, an AFP journalist saw part of an apartment building on fire after nighttime airstrikes and ambulances transporting victims to hospitals.

Israeli airstrikes beginning shortly after 02:00. [σ.σ. τοπική ώρα και ώρα Ελλάδας]were still going on at about 03:50, according to AFP correspondents who heard the explosion in eastern Gaza City.

They come less than a week after an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement was announced following a new escalation of violence between the Israeli army and Palestinian Islamic Jihad following the deaths of members of the movement’s three-month hunger strike in an Israeli prison.

Target specific jihadists

In separate statements on every Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighter who fell victim overnight, the Israeli military said it would “continue to act in the interests of [να προασπίσει] the security of the citizens of Israel.”

He presented Jihad Ghannam as “one of the most important leaders” of the movement, responsible “for coordinating the transfer of arms and money between the terrorist organization Hamas” and his own.

As for Khalil Bakhtani, the Israeli military said he was “responsible for launching the missiles.” [από τη Λωρίδα της Γάζας] against Israel” in the last thirty days.

As for Tarek Ezzedine, it said that he “recently planned” and directed “attacks against Israeli civilians” in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, and that he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Israel for their “involvement.” especially in kamikaze attacks in the 2000s.

Tareq Ezzedine, originally from Jenin in the northern West Bank, was released in a prisoner exchange in 2011 and deported to the Gaza Strip, an enclave controlled by Hamas since 2007.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has clearly seen a surge in violence since the beginning of this year, after one of the most right-wing governments in Israeli history, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, came to power in late December.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 120 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violent incidents linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to AFP figures based on official statements by authorities on both sides.

These statistics include combatants and civilian juveniles on the Palestinian side and mostly civilian juveniles on the Israeli side, as well as three members of the Arab minority.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters.