Day four of the current conflict between Israel and Gaza militants was marked by renewed attacks from both sides on Friday and, for the first time, rockets launched towards the Jerusalem area.
A quiet 13 hours between Thursday night and Friday morning raised speculation that the mediation efforts to achieve a ceasefire were bearing fruit but such hopes were shattered when a large rocket salvo was directed at southern Israel late on Friday morning.
Shortly after, air raid sirens rang out in communities around Jerusalem as a rocket landed close to the West Bank Jewish settlement of Bat Ayin, 12km south of Jerusalem.
Islamic Jihad released a statement saying that the rocket fire aimed toward Jerusalem was meant as “a message” to Israel. “The eyes of the resistance are looking toward Jerusalem and see whatever the enemy is planning there,” the statement read.
Israel responded with attacks in Gaza targeting rocket-launching sites, military posts and Islamic Jihad command centres.
A senior Islamic Jihad figure, Iyad al-Hassani, was killed in an Israeli air strike on an apartment in Gaza city. Mr Al-Hassani, who was in charge of operations in the group’s military council, became the sixth senior Islamic Jihad commander to have been killed since the start of the campaign, called Operation Shield and Arrow, which began on Tuesday morning.
Mediation efforts to achieve a ceasefire appear to be deadlocked. Israel said it “would meet quiet with quiet” but refused to accept any of the conditions demanded by the Islamic Jihad for a truce, such as a commitment to stop the targeted assassinations of militant leaders and calling off next week’s march of flags through Jerusalem’s Old City.
Israel’s main fear is that Hamas, the main militant group which rules Gaza, will decide to join the fighting.
Multiple deaths
At least 33 people — about half of them civilians — have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza, with more than 100 injured, the health ministry in Gaza reported.
One Israeli has been killed and five wounded by rocket fire in the same period.
Jennifer Austin, director of operations in Gaza for the UN refugee agency UNRWA, said the humanitarian situation is “already dire” as officials in Gaza warned that fuel supplies are dangerously low.
As of late Friday afternoon, 937 rockets and mortars had been launched at Israel, according to Israeli military figures. A total of 761 of the projectiles crossed the border, while 181 fell short in Gaza. Israel’s air defence systems intercepted 296 of the rockets, marking a 91 per cent interception rate of projectiles heading for populated areas.
The military conflict has served to boost the popularity of Binyamin Netanyahu and his ruling Likud party after the massive protests against the coalition’s planned judicial overhaul had precipitated an unprecedented fall in his support.
The latest poll shows the Likud pulling even with Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, with 38 per cent of respondents now saying they prefer Mr Netanyahu for prime minister, up from 33 per cent last week.
