Jerusalem, Dec 31 (IANS) The Israeli military announced Tuesday that the Israeli Air Force killed Anas Muhammad Saadi Masri, commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement’s rocket unit in northern Gaza, in an airstrike in early December.
According to a statement by the military, Masri was responsible for directing rocket attacks from northern Gaza against civilians and soldiers in southern Israel, including during the Hamas rampage last October.
The military vowed to continue targeting individuals involved in alleged attacks on Israeli civilians.
The PIJ has yet to comment on the Israeli announcement, Xinhua news agency reported.
Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a rampage led by Hamas through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
Fighters in the Gaza Strip had fired about five rockets at southern Israel on Sunday afternoon, the Israeli military had said.
The rockets triggered air raid warning sirens in the city of Sderot and other communities near the Palestinian enclave though no injuries were reported.
In a statement, the Israeli military had said that two of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-rocket system, while the rest “likely fell in open areas.”
Last week, the Israeli defence authorities had confirmed that an Israeli military commander was killed during combat in the Gaza Strip.
Amit Levi, 35, a squad commander in a patrol battalion of Israel’s elite “Arrows of Fire” infantry and paratroop brigade, “fell during combat in central Gaza,” the army said in a statement on Thursday.
Israel’s state-owned Kan TV reported that Levi was killed by Palestinian militant fire in central Gaza’s “Netzarim Corridor,” which is now controlled by the army. The army troops have established new bases in the area.
Levi’s death marked the 822nd Israeli soldier killed since the start of Israel’s wars on multiple fronts last October.
–IANS
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