Palestinian militants respond with rockets after Israel hits Gaza with deadly strikes

Israel unleashed a wave of airstrikes in Gaza on Friday, killing at least 10 people, including a senior militant, and wounding dozens, according to Palestinian officials.Israel said it was targeting the militant group Islamic Jihad in response to an "imminent threat" following the arrest of a senior militant in the occupied West Bank earlier this week.

Palestinian militants launched a barrage of rockets hours later as air raid sirens wailed in central and southern Israel. Islamic Jihad claimed to have fired 100 rockets.

The strikes risked igniting yet another war in the territory.Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers have fought four wars and several smaller battles over the last 15 years, at a staggering cost to the territory's twomillion Palestinian residents.

A blast could be heard in Gaza City, where smoke poured out of the seventh floor of a tall building.Meanwhile, afew hundred people gathered outside the morgue at Gaza City's main Shifa hospital. Some entered to identify loved ones, only to emerge in tears.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a five-year-old girl and a 23-year-old woman were among those killed and that another 55 people were wounded. It did not differentiate between civilians and militants. The Israeli military said early estimates were that around 15 fighters were killed.

Islamic Jihad said Taiseer al-Jabari, its commander for northern Gaza, was killed in the strikes. As mourners prepared to hold funerals for those killed in the attacks, hundreds some waving Palestinian flags marched through the streets of Gaza.

UNcalls for end to rocket fire

Israeli media showed the skies above southern and central Israel lighting up with rockets and interceptors from Israel's Iron Dome missile-defence system. An explosion was heard in Tel Aviv.

It wasn't immediately clear how many rockets were launched, and there was no immediate word on any casualties on the Israeli side.

Israel continued to strike other targets Friday, including weapon-production facilities and Islamic Jihad positions.

The UNspecial envoy to the region, Tor Wennesland, said he was "deeply concerned."

"The launching of rockets must cease immediately, and I call on all sides to avoid further escalation," he said.

Air strikes targeting militant group, Israel says

The Israeli military said it was targeting Islamic Jihad in an operation named "Breaking Dawn." It also announced a "special situation" on the home front, with schools closed and limits placed on other activities in communities within 80 kilometres of the border.

Israel had closed roads around Gaza earlier this week and sent reinforcements to the border as it braced for a revenge attack after the arrest of a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the occupied West Bank on Monday.

In a nationally televised speech Friday night, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said his country had launched the attacks based on "concrete threats."

"This government has a zero tolerance policy for any attempted attacks of any kind from Gaza towards Israeli territory," Lapid said.He added that "Israel isn't interested in a broader conflict in Gaza, but will not shy away from one either."

Islamic Jihad leader Ziad al-Nakhalah, speaking to the al-Mayadeen TV network from Iran, said "we are starting the fight, and the fighters of the Palestinian resistance have to stand together to confront this aggression."

He said there would be "no red lines" in the confrontation and blamed the violence on Israel.

"The Israeli enemy, who started the escalation against Gaza and committed a new crime, must pay the price and bear full responsibility for it," saidHamas spokespersonFawzi Barhoum.

Islamic Jihad is smaller than Hamas but largely shares its ideology. Both groups are opposed to Israel's existence and have carried out scores of attacks over the years, including the firing of rockets into southern Israel.

No 'chance to breathe' since last year's war

Israel'smost recent war with Hamas in Gaza was in May 2021, and tensions again soared earlier this year following a wave of attacks inside Israel, near-daily military operations in the West Bank and tensions at a flash-point Jerusalem holy site.

"We have not yet been able to reconstruct what Israel haddestroyed a year ago. People didn't have the chance to breathe,and here Israel is attacking again without any reason," saidMansour Mohammad-Ahmed, 43, a farmer from central Gaza.

Israel and Egypt have maintained a tight blockade over Gaza since the Hamas takeover 15 years ago. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities, while critics say the policy amounts to collective punishment.

Mohammed Abu Selmia, director of the Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, said hospitals faced shortages after Israel imposed a full closure on Gaza earlier this week. He said there were enough supplies and essential drugs to sustain hospitals for five days in normal timesbut that, with a new round of fighting underway, "they may run out at any moment."

Earlier on Friday, a fewhundred Israelis protested near the Gaza Strip to demand the return of a captive and the remains of two Israeli soldiers held byHamas.