Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes in Gaza on Friday that it said targeted the Islamic Jihad militant group amid days of heightened tensions following the arrest of a senior member of the group in the occupied West Bank earlier this week.
The strikes risk igniting yet another war in the territory, which is ruled by the Islamic militant group Hamas and is home to about 2 million Palestinians. The assassination of a senior militant would likely be met by rocket fire from Gaza, pushing the region closer to all-out war.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said eight people were killed, including a 5-year-old girl, and at least 40 were wounded. Islamic Jihad said a Gaza commander, Taiseer al-Jabari, was among those killed. Israel had closed roads around Gaza earlier this week and sent reinforcements to the border as it braced for a revenge attack after the arrest of the Islamic Jihad leader in the occupied West Bank on Monday. A teenage member of the group was killed in a gunbattle between the Israeli troops and Palestinian militants.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said "the Israeli enemy, who started the escalation against Gaza and committed a new crime, must pay the price and bear full responsibility for it." "We will operate with internal resilience and external strength in order to restore routine life in Israel's south," he said, "We do not seek conflict, yet we will not hesitate to defend our citizens, if required."
The protesters pushed through two police checkpoints on a road near the heavily-guarded Gaza frontier before stopping at a third.
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