For the second year in a row, Israel has waged its aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip for several days with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement. On Tuesday it began a campaign of assassinating resistance leaders of the movement, who in turn vowed revenge.
Israel has been careful to avoid targeting any positions belonging to Hamas, wary of drawing in the more powerful resistance movement in Gaza and expanding the conflict to a dangerous level for the regime.
Nevertheless, Palestinian Islamic Jihad has showcased its own strength and power in its retaliation for Israel's bombardment. It has launched more than 900 missiles at settlements far away from the Gaza Strip from Beersheba all the way to Tel Aviv and the vicinity of occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem) setting off sirens across the occupied Palestinian territories with hundreds of thousands of Israelis scrambling to shelters.
Hamas says it stands in solidarity with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has vowed to escalate its rocket fire, many of which Israel's so-called "Iron Dome" system has failed to intercept if the regime’s bombing campaign continues.
Experts have pointed out that the resistance's response to the Israeli aggression came in stages, starting at noon and ending at night, with Badr missiles loaded with explosive warheads weighing half a ton, among the missiles that have been used.
Media outlets close to the Palestinian resistance have cited informed sources as saying, "The missiles that targeted Tel Aviv and its surrounding areas are of new technologies that enabled them to bypass the Iron Dome,"
On Friday, the resistance fired rockets targeting the outskirts of occupied al-Quds with rockets for the first time.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the casualties of the Israeli air strikes as well as the regime's warship’s firing shells on the blockaded coastal enclave has risen to at least 31 martyrs, including at least 6 children and 3 women.
At least 93 others have sustained injuries, among them at least 32 children and more than 17 women, the ministry also announced.
Among other civilians Israel has killed include Doctor Jamal Hasan, a dentist, who has been martyred alongside his wife, Mirfat, and their 20-year-old son, Yusef, when a missile struck their house in a direct hit. The family’s 13-year-old daughter has been left orphaned.
Footage from the Gaza Strip shows entire residential buildings flattened to the ground. Killing civilians has been a common tactic used by Israel to pressure the Palestinian resistance to end its retaliatory rocket fire.
The salvos of missiles fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad has left at least one Israeli settler dead and 15 others injured. Likewise, the Palestinian missiles have caused substantial damage to buildings in settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories.
On Friday Israeli drones struck an open area causing no casualties or material damage, but saw more Palestinian missile retaliation as reports indicate Egyptian mediators being strongly optimistic about a cease-fire in their negotiations between Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the occupying entity.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization has relayed to the Egyptian mediators, which is coordinating with the United Nations, that any ceasefire with the regime can only be observed on its terms. This includes an end to Israeli assassinations of the movement's leaders and commanders.
"The recent bombing of Tel Aviv, Beersheba and other cities was to confirm that there is no truce except on the terms of the resistance," the resistance movement said, adding that these assassinations will not go unpunished, and all options are on the table for the resistance.
Israel started the longest spell of violence this year in the Gaza Strip by assassinating three Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders as well as their wives and children. During the course of the battle, the regime assassinated a further two commanders.
The Zionist entity claims that the Palestinian martyrs and missile commanders had been seeking to lay the foundations for missile bases to be used in retaliatory operations from the occupied West Bank, where Israel has killed more than 100 Palestinians so far this year.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad has confirmed the martyrdom of its commander Ali Hassan Ghali, who it said was a member of the Military Council and in charge of the missile unit of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organization).
Following the martyrdom of Ghali, Palestinian Islamic Jihad vowed that "the assassination policy of bombing residential buildings will not give the enemy a victory," while stressing that "the martyrdom of the missile unit commander in the al-Quds Brigades will not stop the rocket fire."
The movement also warned the regime that its policy of bombing homes would be matched with an intensification of the bombing of "Tel Aviv" and wider regions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israel says its so-called "Iron Dome" system has tried to intercept more than 800 short, medium and long-range Palestinian missiles.
Sources close to the Palestinian resistance media in Gaza’s Joint Operations Room said that "the occupation pushed through various mediations to beg for a ceasefire," noting that "the resistance stuck to its position of a clear commitment to stop the assassinations."
Israeli media reports have acknowledged that the Israeli bombings in Gaza did not break any equation and did not change anything.
The equation has changed as Israel can no longer afford to bomb the Gaza Strip for weeks on end like it used to do. The battle this year, like last year, has lasted a couple of days in a sign of the rising power of the resistance in the besieged Gaza Strip. This is while Palestinian Islamic Jihad has stated its "readiness to fight for the longest period of time and to expand the circle and targets of fire if necessary."
Earlier the head of the occupation's "national security" council, Tzachi Hanegbi, confirmed that the entity has no interest in continuing the battle with the Palestinian factions amid the barrages of rockets being fired from Gaza.
Since Tuesday, Israel has entirely blocked travel for urgent humanitarian needs, preventing the casualties from accessing medical treatment not available in Gaza, drawing anger from rights groups, who are accusing the regime of committing more war crimes.
The Israeli occupation committed a crime by starting an assassination campaign of resistance leaders that kicked off the latest round of violence and it has paid a price for that with more than 800 missiles in retaliation.
Israel claims its military operations in the Gaza Strip are successful. But that argument has even led to Israeli analysts confused and asking if the operations are so successful, why does the regime conduct them once a year?
As Israel kills and injures dozens of Palestinian women and children in just a matter of days; the United States, which claims to stand up to human rights, insisted on Friday that it stands with the regime, in effect giving the occupying entity the green light to commit more massacres.
Events on the grounds indicate Israel has achieved nothing from its latest bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, with the exception of killing women and children along with some unity and breathing space for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who faces an unprecedented internal crisis.
But that breathing space may not last long, as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement says Ali Hassan Ghali left behind hundreds of missile experts before his martyrdom this week.
As the international community once again abandons the besieged Gaza Strip, the Palestinian resistance has once again proven its resilience and capability to face Israel alone.
By: Ali Karbalaei
First published in Tehran Times
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