The Israeli military killed a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing overnight in a new strike across the Gaza Strip as its operations have claimed the lives of at least 25 people since Tuesday, according to local authorities.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, whose members have fired hundreds of rockets since Wednesday evening but so far no casualties have been reported in Israel, stressed that “the Israelis are not [μείνουν] impunity” and that “all options (are) on the table for resistance”.

In a statement, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Holy War (Jihad), confirmed that “Ali Ghali (…), a rocket launcher commander (…), was killed in southern Gaza. Undress with the other witnesses.”

According to eyewitnesses, an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younes destroyed the highest part of an apartment building. According to Palestinian medical sources, two other people who were with him were killed and seven others were injured.

They were members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Chahal, an Israeli military man, said in a Twitter post confirming that “fighter jets” “targeted” Ali Ghali while he was “hiding in an apartment in Khan Younes.”

The ongoing escalation of violence between Palestinian armed groups and Israel is the worst since August 2022 in the Gaza Strip, an enclave ruled since 2007 by the Islamist movement Hamas.

In a telephone conversation with Chai Hanegbi, his counterpart in the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jake Sullivan, US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, “insisted on the need for de-escalation and to avoid further loss of life.” and was cited in Egypt’s mediation efforts for a ceasefire agreement, according to a press release issued by the White House.

Earlier, the UN representative in New York stressed that Secretary General António Guterres is following the situation “with great concern” and wants guarantees that there will be no “further” escalation, while he “condemned” the deaths of civilians in Gaza. A streak in the operations of the Israeli army and “indiscriminate” rocket launches from the enclave on Israel.

After the first Palestinian rockets were fired last night, alarm sirens sounded in Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip, as far as Beersheba (east) and Tel Aviv (north).

According to Chahal’s calculations at 21:30. [τοπική ώρα και ώρα Ελλάδας]469 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, 333 of which entered Israeli airspace. Hundreds more followed.

More than half of them were intercepted by air defenses, but Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu urged the population of areas bordering the Gaza Strip to stay in shelters, as some of the rockets caused property damage.

According to Israeli officials, a house and a car were damaged in the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon, respectively.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an organization designated a “terrorist” group by Israel, the EU and the US, has been targeted by the Israeli military since Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu boasted that he dealt the organization “the heaviest blow in its history.”

The Islamist movement, for its part, is promising a “reaction to the magnitude of Israel’s crimes” after three members of its military wing were killed in strikes on Tuesday that killed 15 people in Gaza, including four children. Strip.

Authorities say 10 more people were killed in the ensuing Israeli army operations, including a 10-year-old girl and four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the movement said.

The Gaza Strip, a tiny enclave plagued by poverty and unemployment with 2.3 million Palestinian residents under a strict Israeli blockade, has been the scene of several wars with Israel since 2008.

“I have a feeling it’s about to explode [νέος] war,” there is “tension and fear,” summed up Moder Abdullah, a 50-year-old Gaza resident.

Around the enclave, residents of Israeli communities are rushing to shelter, according to Israel Public Radio, and schools have been ordered to close within a 40km radius.