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| Destruction of Gaza |
A top commander of a Palestinian armed organization and several youngsters were murdered in the Gaza Strip on the second day of Israeli airstrikes on the confined region.
Islamic Jihad stated in a statement on Sunday that Khaled Mansour, its leader in the Gaza Strip's south, had been killed in an Israeli operation on Saturday.
Mansour is the second senior member of Islamic Jihad to be executed since Israel launched its offensive on Gaza on Friday when it assassinated the group's commander in the north, Taysir al-Jabari.
Israel has warned that its assault against Islamic Jihad might continue for a week, and its airstrikes on Gaza have demolished residential complexes and hit refugee camps.
According to Hamas, the Gaza Strip's ruling party, at least four children were killed in a bomb near the Jabaliya refugee camp on Saturday. It accused Israel of the killings, while the Israeli military denied any involvement, claiming the explosion was caused by a failed rocket fire by Islamic Jihad.
The new deaths raise the overall number of youngsters murdered since Friday to six, and the total number of Palestinians killed to 24. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 204 additional people have been injured.
In response to the bombings, Palestinian militants launched around 400 rockets into Israel. According to the Israeli paramedic service, the majority of the missiles were intercepted, and there have been no reports of significant casualties.
The violence has fueled worries that Israel may launch another assault on Gaza, barely 15 months after a month-long battle that killed over 260 people.
"The last battle left severe destruction in the Gaza Strip." "A year later, there has been practically no reconstruction," Youmna ElSayed of Al Jazeera said from Gaza City. "This secluded coastal area is destitute, and its inhabitants are just now beginning to recover." Many people are afraid about another round of escalation."
Extreme mediation
About 2.3 million Palestinians are crammed into the tiny coastal Gaza Strip, with Israel and Egypt banning people and commodities movement in and out of the enclave and enforcing a naval blockade, claiming security concerns.
The scheduled delivery of gasoline into Gaza was halted soon before Israel commenced its assaults on Friday, crippling the territory's lone power plant and limiting electricity to approximately four hours per day, prompting health experts to warn that hospitals would be badly impacted within days.
"[The Israelis] are hitting citizens, buildings, and residential areas." Nobody knows what will happen in the next few hours," said Dr. Medhat Abbas, head of the Gaza Ministry of Health.
"This is a plea to provide a helping hand to the Gaza Ministry of Health right now." There is an electrical deficit. It has now been announced that it will only be four hours every day. This means that generators will be used in hospitals. Every month, generators consume half a million liters of water. We do not currently have this gasoline."
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi claimed Cairo is negotiating with both sides "around the clock" to end the bloodshed.
According to two Egyptian security officials, an Egyptian intelligence delegation led by Major General Ahmed Abdelkhaliq landed in Israel on Saturday and would fly to Gaza for mediation discussions. According to the sources, they were trying to achieve a one-day truce to carry out the discussions.
"Intensive attempts were conducted this evening, and the movement listened to the mediators," an Islamic Jihad official told Reuters late Saturday.
The most recent flare-up occurred earlier this week when Israeli soldiers apprehended Bassam al-Saadi, an Islamic Jihad leader in the occupied West Bank. Al-Saadi was apprehended during an Israeli operation in Jenin, which resulted in the death of a youngster. Israeli forces then restricted highways surrounding the Gaza Strip before bombing an apartment building in Gaza City on Friday, killing al-Jabari and at least nine people, including a five-year-old daughter and a 23-year-old woman.
On Saturday, the Israeli military announced the arrest of 19 additional Islamic Jihad militants in the West Bank.
Islamic Jihad is associated with Hamas but frequently operates independently.
A future escalation of violence might be determined by Hamas' decision to fight with Islamic Jihad.
According to Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum, "the Israeli enemy, which began the escalation against Gaza and committed a fresh crime, must pay the price and take full responsibility."
The Palestinian Authority, which is backed by the West, has strongly criticized the Israeli assault.
The violence is an early litmus test for Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who has taken on the role of a caretaker leader ahead of elections in November, in which he intends to retain his position.
Lapid, a moderate former TV personality and author, has diplomatic expertise as the previous government's foreign minister, but his security credentials are lacking. A fight with Gaza might strengthen his reputation as he confronts former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a security hawk who led the country through three of its four conflicts with Hamas.
On Saturday, the US said it completely supported Israel's right to defend itself and encouraged all parties to avoid further escalation, while Iran, which backs Islamic Jihad, said Israel would "pay a terrible price" for the recent assault.
Middle East envoys from the United Nations and the European Union have also expressed worry over the violence.