Israel Launches Two Air Raids on Gaza

Israeli forces launched two airstrikes on northern and central regions of the Gaza Strip late on Friday as border tensions grew after the death of a Gaza militant commander earlier in the day.


Israel said the latest airstrikes killed two Islamic Jihad members, who were preparing to fire rockets into Israel.


The airstrikes came as a response to intensified rocket fire from Gaza. About 20 rockets were fired into southern Israel on Friday evening after the death the secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees Zuhir al-Qaisi and his aide Mahmoud Hanani in an Israeli airstrike.



Al-Qaisi and Hanani died when two Israeli missiles hit the vehicle they were travelling in.


Haaretz quoted IDF sources as saying that al-Qaisi was organizing “a large, coordinated terror attack” on Israel's border with Gaza. Israel also accuses al-Qaisi of being behind the August 2011 attack on Israel's Highway 12 along the border with Egyopt, in which eight Israelis were killed. Al-Qaisi and his group denied the accusations.

Shortly after the attack, the Popular Resistance Committees announced it quits the unofficial Egypt-brokered ceasefire deal between Palestinian militants and Israel.

PNA Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned the first Israeli airstrike saying that such actions “create a negative atmosphere and tensions, which further escalate violence in the region.”

Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Yasser Osman said his country also condemns “the Israeli aggression against Palestinian factions and ceasefire violation” and called on both sides to end violence.