A pair of Israeli airstrikes early yesterday targeted senior Islamic Jihad commanders in Gaza and Syria, escalating Israel’s confrontation with Iran across the region and threatening to unleash another devastating round of cross-border violence with Palestinian militants.
In eastern Gaza, the Israeli strike killed Bahaa Abu el-Atta and his wife, setting off a furious barrage of rockets fired from Gaza that reached as far as the Tel Aviv heartland as Islamic Jihad vowed further revenge.
The military said Abu el-Atta was the mastermind of recent attacks against Israel and the militant group’s top commander in Gaza.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Meanwhile, Syrian officials said an Israeli airstrike in the capital, Damascus, targeted another Islamic Jihad commander, Akram al-Ajouri, who was not harmed.
Syria’s state-run news agency said Israeli warplanes fired three missiles at al-Ajouri’s home, killing his son and granddaughter.
The Israeli military had no comment.
Photo: AFP
The sudden surge in violence looked to awaken Israel’s increasingly open conflict with Iran and its proxies in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a series of warnings about alleged Iranian aggression.
He has also been criticized by residents along the southern border and political rivals for a tepid response to recent militant attacks.
His Security Cabinet held a lengthy emergency meeting to discuss further action.
Afterward, speaking alongside Israeli Defense Forces Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi, Netanyahu said Israel had no interest in escalation, but would do everything necessary to defend itself against people like Abu el-Atta, whom he described as an “arch-terrorist” and “the main generator of terrorism from the Gaza Strip.”
“He was in the midst of plotting additional attacks these very days. He was a ticking bomb,” Netanyahu said.
The airstrikes come at a tenuous time politically for Israel, as Netanyahu leads a caretaker government after two inconclusive elections. His chief challenger, former military chief Benny Gantz, is trying to build a coalition government of his own.
Gantz said he had been briefed on the airstrike in advance, calling it “the right decision.”
Abu el-Atta’s relatives and the Islamic Jihad said the woman killed in the strike was Abu el-Atta’s wife and the two wounded were their children.
Minutes after the Iran-backed Palestinian group confirmed the death, barrages of rockets were fired toward Israel. Air raid sirens continued to go off throughout the morning as far as Tel Aviv.
In one instance, a rocket landed on a highway, just meters from a passing vehicle. In another, a rocket pierced the roof of a residential home.
The military said more than 50 rockets were fired in just a few hours, with 20 intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system. There were no Israeli casualties.
In response, Israel shut down crossing points into Gaza and reduced the permissible fishing area off the territory’s coast to 6 nautical miles (11km).
Schools were closed and people were instructed to stay home in communities stretching from the Gaza border all the way to Tel Aviv, about 90km away. Public shelters were opened and restrictions placed on large gatherings.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of