Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza kills Islamic Jihad senior commander

An Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday killed Ahmed Abu Daqqa, a senior commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the faction said.

Four people were also wounded in the strike near Khan Younis, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

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Earlier on Thursday, the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad announced the death of one of its military leaders in a pre-dawn strike carried out by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.

“Ali Ghali... commander of the rocket launch unit... was assassinated in the south of the Gaza Strip along with other martyrs,” said a statement from the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed branch of the group.

The Israeli army confirmed that it targeted Ghali in the strike, part of an operation that has killed 25 people including women and children this week.

After more than a year of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed more than 100 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners since January, the latest escalation drew international alarm and calls for a ceasefire.

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