The escalation continues to dominate the situation for a third consecutive day, between the Israeli army, which has engaged its naval forces in military operations, supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and the Palestinian factions, particularly the Islamic Jihad movement, which has lost several of its leaders and field experts in the past two days. Notably, rockets fired today from Gaza struck buildings and homes without being intercepted by the Iron Dome.
In a significant development following direct hits in Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Rosh HaAyin, Israeli Channel 14 reported that Israel has withdrawn from ceasefire negotiations. The state broadcaster quoted the Israeli army saying, "We will certainly respond to this strike and will not overlook what has happened." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would convene a security consultation session with the defense minister after the direct hits in Rosh HaAyin. Israeli media reported that "shrapnel from a rocket hit the car of Israeli minister Orit Strook in the settlement of Sderot."
In the latest news from the "war punditry" lines, Gaza-Tel Aviv, Israel has assassinated two leaders of the Islamic Jihad movement in airstrikes on Gaza today, continuing an operation that has so far claimed the lives of 26 Palestinians, including women and children, met with the launch of hundreds of rockets from the sector.
With the killing of Ali Ghali, head of the rocket unit, and Ahmad Abu Daqa, a prominent leader in the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, the number of high-ranking military leaders killed in the movement has risen to five since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza on Tuesday. Among those killed in the Israeli airstrikes were four women and at least six children.
The joint operations room of the Palestinian resistance factions stated that they "will not retreat and will only grow stronger due to the assassinations," adding, "Our retribution continues. We tell the enemy that the policy of bombing secure homes is a miscalculation, and the hand of resistance is capable of causing them pain."
Medical sources in Gaza reported that "about 28 Palestinians have been killed and 93 others injured since the start of Israeli military operations in the sector." The Israeli ambulance service announced, "The rise in casualties resulting from a rocket falling from Gaza in Rosh HaAyin near Tel Aviv has reached one dead and 13 injured."
Israeli broadcasting authorities reported that a rocket from Gaza directly hit a building in the city of Sderot. Rockets reached Tel Aviv, where social media circulated images of damage at the "Bat Yam" mall in the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
Regarding mediation, officials from the Islamic Jihad movement and a foreign diplomat told Reuters that Cairo hosted the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Jihad, Muhammad Al-Hindi, as part of ceasefire talks to end the fighting that has entered its third day. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters in Berlin that "Egypt's efforts to ease the situation and resume the political process have not yet borne fruit." Israeli media reported a senior security official stating that "intensive talks are still ongoing, but Israel will not commit to halting targeted assassinations."
