Israeli airstrikes attacked numerous locations in the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing a number of individuals, including a top leader of a Palestinian militant organization, in the bloodiest escalation of fighting in the area since an 11-day war last year.The attacks targeted civilian homes as well as militant watchtowers, killing at least 10 people, including a 5-year-old child, and wounding 55 others, the Gaza health ministry said. One airstrike killed Taysir al-Jabari, a top military commander in Islamic Jihad, the second-largest terrorist organization in Gaza, according to both Islamic Jihad and the Israeli military.
The escalation follows one of the least violent episodes in Gaza for many years. After the conflict in May 2021, there were very few cross-border exchanges of fire, as tensions moved to the occupied West Bank. Both Israel and Hamas, the Islamist organization that rules Gaza, have suggested they wish to avoid another full-scale battle over the territory, which has been under an Israeli and Egyptian siege since 2007.