Israeli warplanes launched a morning air strike west of Gaza City on April 30, killing 25-year-old Haitham al-Mishal. Another Palestinian was injured in the attack, which took place a few days after Israeli planes hit two other sites in the south Gaza Strip.

The killing of Mishal was the first targeted assassination carried out by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip since an Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect on Nov. 22, 2012, bringing an end to Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense, which resulted in the deaths of more than 160 Palestinians and 6 Israelis. According to the terms of the truce, Israel agreed to "stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip by land, sea and air, including incursions and targeting of individuals" while all Palestinian groups agreed to "stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel, including rocket attacks and all attacks along the border."

Israeli officials, according to the Ma’an News Agency, said that Mishal, who worked as a security guard at al-Shifa Hospital, had been involved in rocket attacks on Eilat, in southern Israel, a few days earlier. Following the air strike, the Israel military said in a statement, “A global jihad-affiliated terrorist has been targeted by an IAF [Israeli Air Force] aircraft in the northern Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire towards Israel."

The attack, many suspect, is likely to generate a new round of armed conflict in the still-blockaded Gaza Strip. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Abu Mujahed, spokesperson for the Palestinian Resistance Committees in Gaza, contended, “Israel will continue to shoot, air raid, and assassinate Palestinians only to falsely justify its attacks and blame them on Palestinians.”