Israel's air force bombed an Islamic Jihad base in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing a commander and four munitions experts from the Palestinian faction, officials on both sides said. The strike in Rafah followed a Palestinian cross-border rocket launch this week which the Israelis blamed on Islamic Jihad. That attack caused no casualties but a rocket landed deep enough to set off sirens on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Fresh salvoes were fired on Saturday evening, wounding two Israelis and calling into question the duration of a relative lull secured by Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, who last week held a major, Egyptian-brokered prisoner swap with the Jewish state.
Islamic Jihad said an explosion in its Rafah training camp killed commander Ahmed al-Sheikh Khalil and four comrades who oversaw the manufacture of bombs and rockets for the faction. Doctors said two other militants were hurt in the incident, during which witnesses reported Israeli helicopters overhead.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli military said in a statement that its aircraft had "targeted a terrorist squad ... that was preparing to launch long-range rockets". It said those struck were responsible for the rocket launch late on Wednesday, though no Palestinian faction had claimed responsibility. Islamic Jihad, a sometime Hamas ally, has chafed at its recent efforts to impose de facto cease-fires with Israel.
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