Israeli aircraft launched an assault on the radical Islamic Jihad organization from the skies over Gaza, killing the group's overall commander and nine other militants in three fiery strikes ending early yesterday. A fourth attack on a security post in southern Gaza killed two Hamas militants.
The heavy death toll was part of a stepped-up offensive against Gaza militants, who fire rockets into southern Israel almost daily. Islamic Jihad, a small radical group with ties to Iran, has taken responsibility for most of the barrages, including an attack this week that slightly wounded a two-year-old Israeli boy.
Islamic Jihad acknowledged it had suffered heavy losses but said it would retaliate with suicide attacks inside Israel, threatening to unleash "a wave of martyrdom operations."
Thousands of Gazans took to the streets in funeral processions for the dead militants, whose bodies and coffins were draped with black Islamic Jihad flags. In northern Gaza, bullets from the rifles of mourners severed an electric wire that fell and injured five people, medics said.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak congratulated the army for its "successful activity" against Gaza militants.
"I hope these successes continue. At the same time we must be on our guard for the responses that may come from the other side," Barak said, speaking after a meeting with the new US military envoy to the region, James Jones.
Four of the Islamic Jihad militants were targeted as they emerged from morning prayers yesterday at a northern Gaza mosque. Six others died when Israeli aircraft blasted two cars in Gaza City after nightfall on Monday.
"There is no doubt that this is a big loss," said Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.
Israel has been carrying out frequent airstrikes and ground incursions into Gaza since the Hamas militant group violently seized control of the area last June. Hamas, which doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist, hasn't been heavily involved in the cross-border attacks, but Israel holds it responsible because it allows other armed groups, including Islamic Jihad, to operate with impunity.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the rocket squads have forced the army to take action.
"These extremists don't want to just kill innocent civilians; they want to kill the peace process," Regev said.
Palestinians fired rockets and mortar shells at Israel yesterday morning. Two shells hit an Israeli farm, damaging a chicken coop but causing no casualties, the military said.
The air attacks, the military said, targeted militants involved in rocket fire at Israel.
The target of the first Israeli airstrike in Gaza City late on Monday was Majed Harazin. The group said he was its top commander for the West Bank and Gaza, and he rarely traveled in vehicles for fear of an Israeli airstrike.
Another militant was killed in the raid, hospital officials said.
Hamas radio said the car was filled with explosives and warned people to stay away, but people crowded around the burning vehicle. Witnesses said the initial blast was followed by smaller explosions after the car was hit.
In the second airstrike shortly before midnight, the military said it targeted a cell that was about to fire rockets at Israel. Undercover agents took part in the attack, it said, and the leader of the cell, master rocket-maker Karim al-Dahdouh and three other militants were killed.
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