Islamic Jihad and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip have fired over 360 rockets into southern Israel in the last several days. Schools are closed, and over a million people are living in bomb shelters. Hospitals and other emergency services in Israel are on high alert in light of the ongoing rocket attacks.
This current wave of escalation follows an earlier November 1st attack on Israel, orchestrated by the senior commander of Islamic Jihad, Baha Abu al-Ata. Early Tuesday morning, Israeli Air Force jets struck the Gaza building where Abu al-Ata was staying, killing him. Abu al-Ata had coordinated most of the significant rocket and border attacks from Gaza, and was planning more.
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| Islamic Jihad Terror leader Baha Abu al-Ata. |
From the IDF:
"Abu al-Ata was promoting preparations to commit immediate terror attacks in various ways towards Israeli civilian and IDF troops during the recent few days. Al-Ata trained terror squads for infiltration and sniper attacks, drone launching and rocket fire to different distances."
In retaliation, the IDF launched a series of strikes against rocket-launching squads, terrorist training compounds and a tunnel digging site in Gaza. Two dozen Palestinians have been killed- with the majority of those killed identified as members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigades.
Dozens of the rockets launched from Gaza were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system- a 90% interception rate for rockets heading toward populated areas. The remaining rockets struck homes, businesses, a nursing home, causing significant damage
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