IDF launched Gaza op after detecting Islamic Jihad attack squads approaching border

The Israel Defence Forces on Friday launched a series of preemptive strikes against Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) assets in the Gaza Strip, after detecting attack cells from the organization approaching the shared border, the Israeli military stated. This was followed by a barrage of rockets being fired from Gaza.

This morning, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defence Minister Benny Gantz said:  “Yesterday, the IDF and the ISA targeted senior Islamic Jihad terrorist and Gaza Strip southern division commander Khaled Mansour. This was a joint operational effort by the IDF, intelligence elements and the ISA, with the approval of the political echelon.”

The Israeli home front was bracing for PIJ rocket attacks and the IDF declared a “special situation” in the 80-kilometer zone stretching from the border into central Israel. Iron Dome anti-missile defense batteries have been deployed throughout the country.

The opening strike of IDF’s “Operation Breaking Dawn” targeted two anti-tank squads, as well as the commander of PIJ’s northern region, Tayseer Jabari, who has been behind a string of recent projectile attacks on Israel, according to the IDF.

Jabari was the successor of former PIJ commander Baha Abu Al-Ata, who was assassinated by Israel during “Operation Black Belt” in November 2019, which saw PIJ and Israel engage in a three-day conflict as Hamas remained on the sidelines.

“A short while ago, the IDF targeted a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization. IDF fighter jets targeted Tayseer Jabari, the senior PIJ commanding officer of the terrorist group’s Northern Gaza Division. Jabari was entrusted with making many decisions in the PIJ,” the IDF said in a statement.

“In addition, approximately 10 PIJ terrorist operatives were targeted, including a terrorist squad who were on their way to carry out an anti-tank missile and sniper attack. Military bases and buildings used by the terrorist operatives were also targeted,” the statement added.

Reuters quoted Gaza health officials as saying that at least eight people had been killed and 44 wounded in the enclave.

The Israeli operation, which was launched at 16:15 local time, was a preemptive maneuver, IDF international spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told journalists.

Since Aug. 2, the IDF has kept swaths of the western Negev under tight security, limiting road and rail travel and keeping gatherings small. This, as it monitored PIJ attack squads—including anti-tank, sniper, and shooting cells—moving close to the border.

The IDF had been receiving concrete intelligence that PIJ was interested in conducting revenge attacks for Monday’s arrest of PIJ senior member Basaam Al-Sa’adi in Jenin. The options included rocket fire on the Israeli home front, anti-tank fire or sniper fire. Israeli forces worked to prevent all of those options from being realized in the past week.

“These have been dramatic days, with these squads flexing, moving close to the border, and posing an imminent threat,” said Hecht.

“We were planning to move fuel trucks into the Gaza Strip so that the people of Gaza can have electricity, but once we saw threatening movements, we had to act,” he said.

Egypt is believed to currently be involved in mediation efforts with Hamas in an effort to keep the terror faction that rules the Strip out of the escalation.

Meanwhile, the IDF has called up 25,000 reserve troops.

The military first sealed roads in parts of southern Israel and temporarily banned train traffic south of Ashkelon on Aug. 2, citing concerns of reprisals after Israeli security forces arrested Bassam al-Sa’adi, the head of PIJ in Judea and Samaria, who was suspected of coordinating imminent terror attacks.

The Israeli forces that entered Jenin came under fire, and a gun battle ensued, the military said in a statement. A number of terrorists were hit, according to the IDF. At least one gunman—later claimed by PIJ as one of its members—was killed.

There were no casualties among the Israeli forces, who seized weapons, ammunition and cash.

The nature of Sa’adi’s arrest suggests that he was connected to an urgent terror plot.

For his part, Jabari was responsible for multiple rocket attacks on Israel during the May 2021 “Operation Guardian of the Walls,” an 11-day conflict fought between Hamas and PIJ against Israel.

Jabari, 50, was from the Shuja’iyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza and has been a high-ranking PIJ member since 2007. He served as a deputy of Abu Al-Ata until the latter’s assassination in a targeted strike by Israel in 2019.

According to the IDF, Jabari held a number of positions in the terrorist organization, including head of operations.

The executive director of The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council Dr Colin Rubenstein said: “The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) today condemned the continued targeting of Israeli civilians by the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). PIJ, widely proscribed as a terrorist group including by Australia, the US, Canada and the European Union, has fired more than 350 rockets at Israel since Friday, including more than 90 which have fallen inside the Gaza Strip. One of these fell on a house in Jabaliya in Gaza, killing seven, including four children, a tragedy the Palestinians are now trying to blame Israel for.

The violence was triggered when Israel, acting on reliable intelligence that PIJ was about to carry out a series of attacks against Israeli civilians, including employing anti-tank missiles, targeted the terrorists planning these attacks. These included Tayseer Jabari, the terror group’s commander in northern Gaza. Jabari has in the past been responsible for hundreds of rocket attacks against Israel.

The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council’s Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “Israel has the right and obligation to defend its citizens against terrorism, the same as any other country. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group – a proxy of Iran dedicated to destroying Israel and killing Israelis – has, true to form, responded to Israel’s legitimate exercise of that right to self-defence by committing multiple war crimes. It is indiscriminately targeting innocent Israeli civilians with rocket barrages, very clearly a war crime, while hiding among the civilians of Gaza, also a war crime.

“The death of any civilian is a tragedy, but PIJ traffics in the lives of Israeli civilians and also those of the Palestinian residents of Gaza. The group’s manifest cynicism and immorality are blatantly obvious in the way it shelters its military infrastructure among civilians, knowing Israel will be unfairly blamed for any civilian casualties that result. This is made even more clear in the way it seeks to blame Israel for deaths caused by its own rockets misfiring.

“Terror groups such as PIJ see a benefit in these cynical and immoral tactics, partly because of the inevitable condemnation of Israel, and partly because of the casualties, damage, disruption and fear they cause to innocent Israelis. The international community must unequivocally condemn these terror tactics and affirm Israel’s right to defend itself and its civilians,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.

The Zionist Federation of Australia stands by Israel’s right to self-defence.

After receiving credible intelligence of an imminent terrorist attack, Israel conducted an airstrike against a leader of the Islamic Jihad – a group proscribed by the Australian Government as a terrorist organisation. In response, Islamic Jihad has fired over 350 rockets into Israeli cities. Most of these have been shot down by Israel’s anti-rocket system.

Israel has responded to Islamic Jihad’s war crimes by attacking a list of targets—first- and second-tier fighters, Islamic Jihad war rooms, and places where it manufactures, stores and fires its rockets. Some of these locations are purposefully placed in civilian areas by Islamic Jihad.

ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said, “Like any other country facing an imminent terrorist attack, Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself. Israel cannot stand by while its civilians are targeted. The Australian Jewish community stands by Israel at this time, knowing that its political and military leadership do all that they can to avoid all civilian casualties. It is this quality that distinguishes Israel from its enemies.”

Mr Leibler continued, “Islamic Jihad is considered a terrorist organisation by many countries, including Australia. It is fully funded by Iran, and takes its directions from the Iranian Supreme Leader. It is Iran—not Israel and not the Palestinian people—that is seeking to inflame tensions. We acknowledge the Australian Government’s important statement reinforcing Israel’s right to defend itself.”

AAP reports: The United States has fully supported Israel’s right to defend itself, the State Department says, and it urged all sides to avoid further escalation as Israeli air strikes pounded Gaza while the militant Islamic Jihad group fired rockets into Israel.

At least 24 Palestinians, including six children, have been killed and 203 wounded during the two days of firing, according to the Gaza health ministry.

The State Department also said on Saturday it was concerned by reports of civilian deaths and called for “a timely and thorough” probe into those casualties. It did not elaborate.

Palestinian militants fired over 400 rockets at Israel – most of them intercepted, setting off air raid sirens and sending people running to bomb shelters. There were no reports of serious casualties, the Israeli ambulance service said.

A State Department spokesman told Reuters the United States was in touch with Israeli officials and others in the region to prevent further escalation.

Latest news: A rocket launched by the Islamic Jihad terror organization toward Israel on Sunday fell short and exploded in the Gaza Strip, killing at least one person, reports from the Strip say.

The rocket, one of about 600 fired toward Israel since the beginning of Operation Breaking Dawn, exploded in Jabaliya in Gaza. Some reports say that two women were killed in the strike.

At least 160 rockets launched by terrorists toward Israel have exploded inside the Strip over the past two days.

 

Reporting: AAP, Yaakov Lappin (JNS), J-Wire/TPS