Netanyahu says Israel still in middle of campaign against Gaza militants

Israel is still in the middle of a campaign against the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday evening, despite earlier hopes that a ceasefire could end a series of tit-for-tat strikes over the past 48 hours.

Earlier in the day, Gaza's joint command of Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for firing rockets at Israel, Reuters reported.

Two Palestinians were killed and several wounded in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian health authorities said.

Mr Netanyahu said the Israeli operation “inflicted upon Islamic Jihad in Gaza [was] the hardest blow in its history”.

Israel's military said 469 rockets and mortars had been launched from Gaza as of 9.30pm local time, 333 of which had crossed into Israeli territory.

Of those, 153 were intercepted by Israeli air defence systems. A few hit urban areas, causing some damage.

Warning sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel as Gaza militants fired rockets into the country in an escalation of simmering tension following an Israeli air strike on senior Islamic Jihad commanders that killed 10 civilians this week.

Israeli authorities told residents across the south to go to bomb shelters until further notice, as jets and rocket squads bombarded what the military said were militant sites throughout Gaza.

“I noticed a drastic increase in the range of rocket attacks from the strip, which began to reach the cities of Ashdod and Yavne, just south of Tel Aviv and then suddenly the sirens began ringing,” Ari Flanzraich, an engineer from Tel Aviv, told The National.

“I don't think anyone expected rockets, and many people, myself included, fled in flip-flops. Several rockets were intercepted above my apartment.”

The Israeli airport authority said Ben Gurion Airport was operating normally after initial reports suggested rockets fired from Gaza prevented flights from landing.

Footage showed Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepting rockets, but at least one house was hit in the city of Sderot.

Israeli forces said rocket and mortar shell launch sites belonging to Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip were their targets.

Earlier on Wednesday, two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Qabatiya were killed by Israeli forces, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Israeli military said it had killed two assailants who opened fire on troops.

The military later confiscated their weapons, an assault rifle and a handgun.

The army also said it had launched operations in the towns of Bethlehem, Huwara, Osarin, Urif, Beitut, Tubas and Aqabat Jaber, arresting more than a dozen suspects and confiscating “a large number of weapons”.

Tension between Palestinians and Israelis has increased in recent days after the death of high-profile Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan.

Adnan, who died in Israeli custody, was accused of being a senior terrorist leader.

Militants in Gaza fired 104 rockets at Israel after his death, wounding three and damaging property.

One Palestinian was killed in subsequent Israeli strikes.

On Tuesday, at least 15 Palestinians, including three commanders of the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Eight women and children were among the dead and 22 people were wounded, Palestinian health officials said.

Israel said its overnight targets had been involved in recent attacks on Israeli civilians.

Mr Netanyahu warned militant groups afterwards that “you can run, you can hide but in the end, Israel will get you”.

He also said that Israel “tried to minimise civilian casualties”.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told officials in southern Israel on Tuesday to prepare for the possibility of a prolonged conflict after strikes on the Gaza Strip.

In May 2021, Israel conducted an 11-day military offensive in Gaza, the fourth major offensive launched on the Palestinian territory in 14 years.

The assault killed 261 people, including 67 children, and wounded more than 2,200, according to the UN.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 100 Palestinians — most of them fighters in militant groups but some of them civilians, including children — have been killed by Israeli forces, while at least 18 Israelis and foreigners have died.

Israel has been staging arrest raids almost nightly in occupied West Bank villages, towns and cities for more than a year in an operation prompted by a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis last year.

Mr Netanyahu's government said the raids were intended to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks.