The third day of fierce cross-border exchanges of fire between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza continued into Thursday night with no indication that a ceasefire was close.
The head of the Islamic Jihad rocket unit and his deputy were killed in separate pinpoint strikes by Israeli aircraft, bringing to five the number of militant commanders killed since the start of the campaign, dubbed operation Shield and Arrow by the Israeli military, in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The first Israeli fatality came on Thursday evening when a rocket slammed into an apartment building in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, 19km south of Tel Aviv, killing a 70-year-old man and wounding nine other people.
At least 28 people have been killed and some 100 injured in Gaza according to local health officials. At least 10 civilians were among the dead. Israel claims that at least four of these, including three children, were killed as a result of militant rockets that fell short and landed inside Gaza – a claim denied by the Islamic Jihad.
Militants fired some 800 rockets and mortars toward Israel since Wednesday. Three Israelis were moderately hurt and dozens were lightly hurt after falling when running to bomb shelters.
The rhetoric from both sides escalated, along with the fighting. A spokesman for Islamic Jihad’s military wing said the rocket barrages into Israel’s Gaza border communities and the surrounding areas will continue. “The assassinations of our commanders only encourages the combatants to continue in the struggle and fight the enemy,” he said.
“If the shooting at Israel continues, the strikes on Gaza will continue, including the continuation of the targeted attacks that exact other heavy prices from the Islamic Jihad,” a senior Israeli official said. “Fire will be answered by fire.”
The European Union called on Thursday night for an immediate truce. “We urge an immediate comprehensive ceasefire which will end Israeli military operations in Gaza and current rocket firing against Israel, which is unacceptable. International humanitarian law must be respected,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
The United Nations Human Rights Office also expressed “alarm”.
[ Egypt brokers fragile ceasefire between Israel and Islamic JihadOpens in new window ]
As early as Tuesday, on the first day of fighting, Israel had been willing to stop its campaign, having chalked up some impressive military achievements – notably the targeted assassination of senior Islamic Jihad leaders.
But in contacts with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, Islamic Jihad representatives set a number of conditions in an attempt to show the residents of Gaza that the sacrifice involved in another round of fighting had been worth it.
Israel rejected all the Islamic Jihad demands: a promise to end the targeted assassinations of militant leaders; the cancellation of next week’s march of flags through Jerusalem’s Old City, which the Palestinians view as a provocation; and the return of the body of Khader Adnan, the West Bank Palestinian security prisoner who died earlier this month after almost three months on hunger strike.
