Israel, Gaza trade fire for second day
STORY: Air strikes and rocket fire pushed Israel and Palestinians into a second day of fighting on Saturday (August 6), ending more than a year of relative calm along the border.
It comes a day after Israel killed a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad militant group in a surprise day time air strike on a high-rise building in Gaza City.
On Saturday, Israel said it struck Islamic Jihad militants which had been preparing to launch rockets and militant posts.
Witnesses said additional bombings targeted five houses.
Ibrahim Shamalakh’s home in Gaza City was destroyed in a strike.
He says the Israeli Army warned him in advance to evacuate his house before it was hit.
In response to Israel’s strikes, Palestinian militants fired at least 160 rockets across the border.
Most missiles were intercepted and there were no reports of serious casualties, Israel’s ambulance service said.
The Israeli strikes have killed at least 14 Palestinians, including at least four more Islamic Jihad militants and a child.
They have also wounded at least 110 people, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Islamic Jihad did not provide precise details on how many of its members had been killed and signalled no immediate ceasefire.
The frontier had been largely quiet since May 2021, when 11 days of fierce fighting between Israel and militants left at least 250 in Gaza and 13 in Israel dead.
