Israel threatens to target Islamic Jihad leaders abroad
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has brazenly threatened to target leaders of Islamic Jihad living in Iran, Lebanon and Syria.
Israeli warplanes started airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Friday, citing “imminent threat of attack” by Islamic Jihad – a claim that the Palestinian resistance group has unequivocally denied.
At least 13 Palestinians were killed and 114 others injured in the Israeli attacks. There have been no casualties on the Israeli side.
Among the victims was five-year-old girl Alaa Qadoum who was outside a relative’s house in the occupied Gaza Strip on Friday when an Israeli airstrike hit in the street nearby without warning, killing her.
Hours later, Alaa was wrapped in a white shroud and a Palestinian flag before she was laid to rest.
The Israeli attacks have been launched amid rising tensions across the occupied Palestinian territories since August 1 when Israeli forces detained Bassam al-Saadi, a senior leader of the Islamic Jihad group, in a raid in the West Bank city of Jenin.
“The leadership of Islamic Jihad, who sit abroad in restaurants and stay in hotels in Tehran, Syria, and Lebanon, are disconnected from their people,” Gantz sarcastically pronounced during a tour of an Iron Dome air defense battery in southern Israel.
He said Islamic Jihad leaders are “seriously harming” the livelihoods of Gaza residents amid the current escalation of violence.
“They will also pay the bill,” Gantz declared- hinting at target-killing Islamic Jihad leaders living outside of the occupied territories.
Meanwhile, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned Israel of a “heavy price” for its ongoing attacks in Gaza, during a meeting with Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah in Tehran.
The Israeli army has said that its current assault of relentless airstrikes in Gaza may last for a week- if not more.