• A new escalation of violence between Israel and Islamic Jihad has left 26 dead between three days on the Palestinian side.
  • Exchanges of fire continued Thursday between armed groups in the Gaza Strip and Israel, raising concerns in the international community.
  • 20 Minutes takes stock of the latest events.

New outbreak of violence between Gaza and Israel. The largest since August 2022. It began Tuesday with Israeli strikes on Palestinian territory, targeting Islamic Jihad considered a "terrorist" organization by the Jewish state, the European Union and the United States. For the past three days, reprisals from both sides have raised fears of additional civilian casualties. Already 26 people, including children, have been killed in the Palestinian territory. An update on the latest events.

What was the trigger for the violence?

Less than a week after the announcement of a truce between Israel and Islamic Jihad, raids on the Gaza Strip have ignited the powder keg. Before dawn on Tuesday, strikes involving 40 aircraft targeted three commanders of the Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's armed wing, in the cities of Gaza and Rafah, on the border with Egypt. They are Jihad Ghannam, the head of the Al-Quds Brigades for the Gaza Strip, Khalil Al-Bahtini, commander of the brigades for the north of the territory, and Tareq Ezzedine, "a leader of the military action" of the movement in the occupied West Bank.

While these strikes achieved their objective, they also hit civilians. A total of fifteen people, including four children, were killed in the shelling, according to Gaza's health ministry. Among those killed were a Russian citizen, doctor, his wife and one of their children, according to a Facebook post by the Russian Representation in Ramallah, West Bank. Late in the day, the army said it had targeted other Islamic Jihad members carrying anti-tank guided missiles in a car in the southern city of Khan Younis.

On Wednesday, Israel continued these attacks. Two Palestinian Islamic Jihad youths, Ahmed Assaf, 19, and Rani Qatanat, 24, were shot dead in the occupied West Bank. A 17-year-old boy was also wounded in the abdomen and chest, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Then new Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip also killed seven people, including a 10-year-old girl. On Thursday, the Israeli military said it had targeted 166 targets across the Gaza Strip, including rocket launching sites belonging to the armed group, and eliminated two commanders.

What is Islamic Jihad's response?

In response, rocket fire left the Gaza Strip into Israel on Wednesday. Rocket warning sirens sounded in the Tel Aviv area, while others went off in the cities of Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon. A total of 547 projectiles were launched into Israeli territory in two days, 175 of which were intercepted by the air defense system, according to the army. "No Israeli civilians have been injured at this stage," Netanyahu said.

What are the international reactions?

The international community is concerned. Many powers are trying to call for calm, starting with Washington. As early as Tuesday, the White House called on all parties to "de-escalate" fearing a new spiral of violence. Foreign ministers from Germany, France, Egypt and Jordan also called for de-escalation on Thursday. "The bloodshed must stop now," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during a meeting with her three counterparts in Berlin.

Egypt, the traditional mediator between the belligerents, is working to obtain a ceasefire. Mohammed al-Hindi, head of Islamic Jihad's political department, arrived in Cairo on Thursday, a source in the Palestinian organization told AFP. An Egyptian delegation is due to travel to Tel Aviv in the evening to negotiate a truce, an Egyptian source told AFP.

For its part, Iran, which supports Islamic Jihad, denounced the "atrocities of the Zionists", promising "defeat" to the "occupying regime", according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani.

How many deaths in less than a year?

In August 2022, three days of clashes between Israel and Islamic Jihad resulted in the deaths of 49 Palestinians, including at least 19 children according to the UN. About 200 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, wounding three people.

Since the beginning of the year, at least 132 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian have been killed in violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to an AFP tally from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.

These statistics include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, the majority of whom are civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.

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