Israel launches fresh strikes after its killing of a fighter on the Gaza border at the weekend prompted rocket fire from Gaza

This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

Israeli jets have launched airstrikes against Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip and Syria, killing two militants, in retaliation for several barrages of rocket attacks fired by the group into Israel.

The intense round of violence, which continued throughout Monday, erupted after an Islamic Jihad militant was shot dead the day before while attempting to plant a bomb at the fence that separates Gaza and Israel, according to the Israeli military.

Tensions exploded after a graphic video was later shared on social media showing what appeared to be an Israeli army bulldozer scooping up the body, and apparently firing on Palestinians nearby who rushed to try to retrieve the body.

The Guardian has been unable to verify the video, but it was widely decried online. It also appeared in line with a controversial new policy announced last year by Israel’s far-right defence minister, Naftali Bennett. He said he intended to hoard the bodies of militants from Gaza to use as bargaining chips with Palestinian militants in body-swap deals.

Israeli forces kill Palestinian near Gaza border Read more

During Sunday night, around 30 rockets and mortar shells were fired into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. Many of them were intercepted by the country’s state-of-the-art Iron Dome anti-rocket system while others fell in open areas.

Further hostilities are expected, and the army said it was closing roads, schools, and a train line near the Gaza Strip. One of several rockets fired from Gaza on Monday landed in an empty kindergarten. There were no reported injuries.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has attempted to maintain quiet before an Israeli elections set for 2 March. However, speaking to the local Army Radio, he warned Gaza’s rulers and Islamic Jihad allies, Hamas, that the situation could escalate.

“I’m talking about a war,” he said. “I only go to war as a last option but we have prepared something you can’t even imagine.”

Israel said it bombed sites across Gaza, a thin, impoverished slice of land that the country, in coordination with Egypt, has blockaded for more than a decade.

According to a military statement, targets included underground bunkers, compounds used to store materials used for manufacturing of rockets, and an anti-tank missile training site.

Medics in Gaza said four people were wounded in the strikes, without identifying them.

Israel and militants in Gaza have frequently clashed during the past two years, with Israeli jets and helicopters bombing the strip while Palestinian fighters launch projectiles at nearby Israeli towns and cities. Typically, the flare-ups die down after a day or two, with no apparent gains for either side.

Unusually, and opposed to its regular attacks on Gaza, the Israel military also made the rare admission of bombing Syrian territory. It announced on Monday that it had bombed an Islamic Jihad site near Damascus used for manufacturing rocket fuel. Islamic Jihad confirmed early on Monday that two of its fighters were killed.

While Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, it normally does not acknowledge them, fearing reprisals.

But the country has recently taken a more overtly aggressive approach against its arch-enemy, Iran, which has established a foothold in neighbouring Syria amid the ruins of the civil war.

Islamic Jihad is considered an Iranian proxy force and is based in Damascus. The group is also the second-largest Palestinian militant faction in Gaza after Hamas.

In November, Islamic Jihad and Israel fought a three-day conflict that left 35 Palestinians dead, including a family of eight. The violence began after Israel launched two targeted assassination attempts against senior Islamic Jihad figures.

Israel has long held Hamas responsible for all rockets fired out of Gaza, but informal agreements between the two sides have seen a reduction in violence and the slight easing of the blockade, including allowing more Palestinians into Israel for work.

Islamic Jihad, however, is believed to have become frustrated with such deals.