Islamic Jihad targets Jerusalem for the first time in current conflict as it fires barrage of rockets at Israel
Jerusalem and Gaza CNN —
Palestinian militants launched rockets towards Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Friday, an escalation of violence in the region that has led to the deaths of at least 33 Palestinians in Gaza and one person in Israel.
The al Quds Brigades of Islamic Jihad said in a statement shortly after the rocket fire: “The launching towards Jerusalem is a message, and everyone should understand its purpose. Jerusalem is in front of our eyes, and what is happening there is not separate from Gaza.”
It called the operation “Revenge of the Free.”
Just before, explosions were heard in Jerusalem as a new wave of rockets was launched from Gaza towards Israel, amid persistent cross-border fire that has led to heavy bloodshed in the region, particularly along the strip.
Talks to bring about a ceasefire between Israel and Islamic Jihad in Gaza are “on ice right now,” a diplomatic source familiar with the negotiations told CNN Friday. The source asked not to be named discussing closed-door diplomatic talks.
Rockets have not previously been fired towards Jerusalem in the current hostilities, which began earlier this week.
A building in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, pictured on Friday, was heavily damaged after Thursday's rocket fire from Gaza amid ongoing violence in the region. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images
Rockets shoot across the sky from Gaza towards Israel on Friday, as hopes faded of securing a truce to end days of fighting in the region. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images
A CNN team in Sderot, southern Israel, saw Israeli air defenses intercept approximately eight to 10 incoming rockets from Gaza on Friday, and had to take shelter briefly from falling shrapnel. They also saw smoke rising from a location in the Gaza Strip following an Israeli airstrike.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced at about the same time that IDF fighter jets struck four military posts belonging to Islamic Jihad. IDF aircraft also struck a mortar shell launcher in the southern Gaza Strip.
A CNN producer in Gaza heard long-range rockets being fired earlier on Friday, along with other rockets and mortars.
Sirens sounded in Israel throughout the day on Friday, warning of incoming rocket fire in areas around Gaza.
The IDF began unleashing waves of airstrikes on Tuesday on what it says are Islamic Jihad operatives and infrastructure along the strip. The IDF has struck 254 targets in Gaza during the operation, which it calls “Shield and Arrow.”
Palestinian militant groups retaliated by launching hundreds of rockets towards Israel.
At least three Palestinian deaths were announced on Friday.
One was a Palestinian man who died of his injuries in Gaza on Friday, according to the Ministry of Health there.
The hospital where he died named him as Alian Abu Wadi, 38, and said he died after doctors attempted to save him. His family said he was wounded Thursday night in an airstrike in the town of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Before the news of Wadi’s death, IDF chief spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the Israeli military believed among the 30 Palestinians killed, 16 were “combatants,” and 14 were “uninvolved.” The IDF said that four of those Palestinians were killed by Islamic Jihad rockets falling short and landing in Gaza, which the militants rejected as a lie.
Some 973 rockets have been launched towards Israel in the past three days, as of 4 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) Friday, the IDF said. Of those, 761 crossed into Israel and 212 fell short in Gaza or landed in the Mediterranean sea.
Israel’s Iron Dome air defenses intercepted 296 rockets, the IDF said. The system only activates when it projects that a rocket is on target to hit a populated area in Israel.
Destruction in Gaza
Authorities in Gaza have also outlined the extensive damage caused by Israeli airstrikes and border closures inside the extremely isolated enclave, beyond the deaths and injuries.
At least nine civilian houses and 28 housing units have been demolished, and 532 additional housing units were damaged, 37 of which are uninhabitable, authorities said in a government briefing on Friday. In all, 90 families have lost their homes, they added.
They warned that Gaza would be forced to shut its electricity plant within 72 hours because they cannot import fuel, adding that one of three turbines at the power station was already shut down.
Additionally, all formal schooling in Gaza has been halted.
Fishing has been stopped for four days, leaving 3,500 fishermen without work. More than 600 tons of agricultural products are stuck in Gaza, unable to be exported.
People take cover behind a wall as a building in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip is hit by an Israeli airstrike on Friday. Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images
Gaza is one of the most densely packed places in the world, an isolated coastal enclave of almost 2 million people crammed into 140 square miles.
Governed by Hamas, the territory is largely cut off from the rest of the world by an Israeli blockade of Gaza’s land, air and sea dating back to 2007. Egypt controls Gaza’s southern border crossing, Rafah.
Israel has placed heavy restrictions on the freedom of civilian movement and controls the importation of basic goods into the narrow coastal strip.
Source: CNN
