JERUSALEM – Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians, including women and children, in a pre-dawn airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The Israeli military claimed that it had killed three leaders of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the raids, which are the latest in more than a year of increasing violence that has seen repeated Israeli forces raids in the occupied West Bank.
Reports said a building in Gaza caught fire after the attack, adding that the swift evacuation of casualties was also observed.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian group has confirmed the killing of its three leaders identified as Jihad Ghannam, secretary of the Al-Quds Brigades military council, and Khalil al-Bahtini, also of the council and commander of the military wing in Gaza. The third leader has been identified as Tareq Ezzedine.
“We mourn the leaders and their wives and a number of their children who were killed in a cowardly Zionist crime,” Islamic Jihad was quoted as saying by international media. It said “the blood of martyrs will increase (the) resolve” of the movement against Israel.
The airstrikes come less than a week after Islamic Jihad announced a truce around Gaza following a fresh surge in violence.
At least 15 Palestinians killed as Israel hits Gaza with airstrikes
