Tel Aviv - Militants fired rockets towards Israel from the Gaza
Strip early Wednesday, one day after the Palestinian group Islamic
Jihad called the killing of its leader by Israel "a declaration of
war."
The Israeli military sent aircraft to target the squad responsible
for the "heavy barrage" of rockets and said that "a hit was
identified."
Two people were killed in Israeli airstrikes, the Health Ministry in
Gaza said on Wednesday, raising the death toll since the escalation
in violence began to 12.
One of the worst rounds of Israeli-Gaza violence in five years
began in response to news that Israel had targeted two senior Islamic
Jihad leaders.
Baha Abu al-Ata, the 42-year-old leader of the Quds Brigades, which
is the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, was killed
alongside his wife in an aerial attack on their house on Tuesday.
Three Israeli rocket attacks west of the Syrian capital Damascus
targeted the house of Akram al-Ajouri, who dpa sources said is
another leader of the Quds Brigades.
Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported that the militant had not
been killed in the attacks, but that his son, Mouaz, and another
person were dead, and 10 other people were injured.
Islamic Jihad is one of the most powerful militant groups in the Gaza
Strip and has gained influence since 2014 with the help of financial
backing from Iran.
The Israeli army said that more than 200 rockets have since been
fired from Gaza, dozens of which were intercepted by the country's
Iron Dome aerial defence system.
Warning sirens continued to blare on Wednesday morning in several
towns across southern Israel.
Israel's Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said late Tuesday
that it had treated 46 people for injuries related to the rockets.
According to Israeli media reports, Egypt and the United Nations are
negotiating intensely behind closed doors to de-escalate the
situation.