Two more Palestinians were killed in a fresh Israeli airstrike on the Southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
The Gaza health ministry said the two men were killed by an airstrike on a vehicle in Khan Yunis.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military claimed in a Twitter post that the strike had targeted a squad carrying anti-tank guided missiles in the city.
The strike came hours after Israeli military aircraft launched a series of targeted strikes on the Gaza Strip, killing at least three high-profile commanders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement, presstv reported.
At least 13 Palestinians were killed in the early morning strikes and 20 others were wounded, according to Palestinian reports, with a number of sites in Gaza City, Rafah and Khan Yunis targeted, among other locations.
The Israeli minister for military affairs, Yoav Gallant, said its forces “precisely carried out their mission against the leadership of the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip”.
Israeli military spokesmen claimed the regime had conducted a “pinpoint” operation involving 40 aircraft but they also confirmed that women and children had been killed too.
The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for any escalation following the latest attacks, with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh warning, “Assassination of leaders will not bring the Occupation [Israel] security but more resistance.”
Later in the day, Israeli forces also shot and killed a Palestinian girl in the city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the Southern West Bank.
Palestinian news sources reported that Palestinian girl was fatally shot near the Beit Yatir settlement, adding that the regime’s forces claimed she was armed and intended to open fire at them.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement has condemned the latest Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, pledging its full support for all measures that the Palestinian resistance groups will take to deter the occupying regime from continuing its acts of aggression.
“We express our solidarity with the Islamic Jihad resistance movement and reiterate our support for all the choices of the Palestinian resistance groups aimed at deterring the Israeli enemy and protecting the Palestinian people as well as their sanctities,” the statement said.
Hezbollah further noted that the assassination of the resistance commanders will reinforce the Arab and Muslim Ummah’s awareness and unity and make it more determined to proceed with the choice of resistance until achieving full victory.
The Lebanese resistance movement further denounced as “a crime against humanity” the brutal attacks on the Gaza Strip that targeted women and children, urging human rights organizations to take appropriate steps to stop the ongoing Israeli crimes.
