TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned citizens Tuesday evening that the expected conflagration with Gaza-based Islamic Jihad might last several days and extend to more than one arena.
Israel waited a week for the operational opportunity to strike at the Islamic Jihad leadership in Gaza, ever since the Iranian-backed group fired over 100 projectiles toward Israel on May 2 in response to the death of jailed Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan.
Based on precise intelligence, dozens of Israeli manned and unmanned aircrafts launched simultaneous surprise attacks on three apartments in the Gaza Strip just after 2 a.m. on Tuesday, killing Khalil al-Bahtini, Tariq Izz ad-Din and Jihad al-Ghanam, three senior Islamic Jihad commanders whom Israel blames for orchestrating terror attacks against Israeli targets from Gaza and the West Bank.
Less than a minute after the launch of the guided missiles at their targets, the control centers of the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) received confirmation of the hits. Despite Israeli claims that it acted with surgical precision, at least 10 noncombatants were also killed, among them women and children — including family members of the assassinated leaders.
