The Palestinian Ministry of Health said there were at least 12 fatalities in the strikes. Islamic Jihad said the wives and some children of the commanders were killed, though there was no immediate independent verification of the claim. Israeli military officials said they were aware of reports of killed civilians and would investigate.
Armed Palestinian groups responded with warnings of repercussion, raising the possibility of a longer drawn-out conflict. Ismail Haniyeh, a senior leader of Hamas — which rules Gaza and is the largest armed group in the strip — said Israel would “pay the price.”
Islamic Jihad members have retaliated with rocket strikes after past Israeli attacks on their leaders and the IDF Home Front Command told residents around Gaza to take shelter until Wednesday.
Israel has exchanged fire with militants in the Gaza strip in recent days, as tensions rose after an influential Islamic Jihad member, Khader Adnan, died in an Israeli prison following an 87-day hunger strike. Palestinian officials termed it a “deliberate assassination” and militant groups in Gaza launched more than two dozen rockets into Israel as retaliation.
The warring parties later agreed to a fragile cease fire, though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under fire from other members of his far-right government for a response they saw as overly tentative.
The IDF said the attacks had been in the planning since Adnan’s death, and were carried out when weather and intelligence on the commanders’ movements made the timing right. Officials said they had no plans for further action, but were prepared for a response from Islamic Jihad and other groups.
“What we wanted to achieve [in the killing of the three targeted men] we achieved,” said Lt. Col Richard Hecht, an IDF spokesperson. “We don’t know where it will go. We are ready for as long as it takes.”
Some 40 helicopters and planes took part in the strikes. In addition to the locations of the targets, they hit several other sites that Israel said were militant infrastructure, including a rocket manufacturing site in the Khan Yunis refugee camp and a cement plant.
Israel said the three men were involved in orchestrating recent attacks on Israel and also planning for future ones. They were killed while in apartments — two in Gaza City, in the enclave’s crowded north, and one in Rafah to the south — and the strikes were designed for “pinpoint” precision, Hecht said.
But in Gaza’s densely packed neighborhoods, surrounding buildings and apartments are frequently damaged in strikes. Images shared by Palestinian civil defense groups showed teams in Rafah and Gaza City working to rescue people from the debris of buildings. Photos circulating on social media showed images of killed and wounded civilians, including children said to have been family members of the targeted men. The Washington Post could not immediately verify the images.
A new phase of violence has broken out over the last year between Israel and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip under the current Netanyahu government.
Settler leaders who are part of the hard line government have advocated for policies to expand Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. In April, fears rose over a region wide war after Palestinian militant groups in Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza strip fired salvos of rockets into Israel, prompting retaliatory airstrikes.
Last year was the deadliest for Palestinians in West Bank in years. Between January and early May, at least 95 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces or settlers, The Washington Post reported. At least 17 Israelis and one foreign national have been killed in attacks by Palestinians.
Masih reported from Seoul, and Berger from Washington.
