The IDF killed two top Islamic Jihad terrorists on Tuesday, striking a blow to the terror group’s rocket infrastructure. One of the terrorists was identified as Samah Abed al-Mamlouk. The IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said that Mamlouk, attacked in a hideout together with a number of additional Islamic Jihad operatives, was in charge of Islamic Jihad’s rocket arsenal.
In another strike, Hassan Abu al-Ata, deputy commander of Islamic Jihad’s Gaza Brigade, was also killed when the IDF struck an apartment in an eight-story building in Gaza’s Rimal neighborhood. He was the brother of Baha abu Al-Ata who was killed by Israel in 2019. Both brothers were known senior members of Islamic Jihad and were behind many of the group’s rocket attacks against Israel in recent years. Islamic Jihad said that the response to the killings of its operatives would be harsh.
Earlier Tuesday, Hamas and the IDF expressed opposition to efforts by Egypt to mediate a ceasefire on Monday night and Tuesday, with terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip firing over 400 rockets and killing two Israelis as the IDF carried out strikes on Gaza in response.
Flames and smoke rise during Israeli air strikes amid a flare-up of Israel-Palestinian violence, in the southern Gaza Strip May 11, 2021. (Credit: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)
Palestinian media reported that close to 30 people had been killed in the IDF strikes, including nine children, and that more than 150 had been wounded.The IDF warned residents of Gaza to stay away from any locations where Hamas weapons are stored Tuesday for their own safety. There will be a “wide wave of attacks in the Gaza Strip,” said the IDF.
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Hamas warned Egyptian officials overnight on Monday that the terrorist groups in Gaza refused to engage in any negotiations unless Israel withdraws security forces from the Temple Mount and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and releases all those detained in recent clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. Hamas also demanded the canceling of planned evictions in Sheikh Jarrah.
The terrorist group told Egyptian officials that they were “completely dropping” previous agreements reached with Israel and starting at square zero.
Egyptian officials estimate that Israel and Gaza are heading to a further escalation. The officials reportedly asked for time to try and contain the crisis and persuade Israel to take a step back before clashes reach “the point of no return.”
Hamas warned that it had a bank of targets that it could hit with “great success” and new missiles that it would use for the first time, if their demands aren’t reached in the coming hours.
Abu Ubaidah, the spokesman of the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, announced that Hamas was behind rocket barrages towards Ashkelon on Tuesday morning that resulted in the injury of seven Israeli civilians, warning that if civilian homes were attacked in Gaza, Hamas would “make Ashkelon hell.”
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) May 11, 2021
The targets hit by Israel included the home of a Hamas battalion commander in a multi-story building, the organization’s military intelligence headquarters, munition manufacturing sites, military complexes belonging to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as well as two terror tunnels that were close to the border fence. The strikes were said to have killed at least 15 Hamas terrorists.
Palestinian reports on Tuesday said that the IDF struck an apartment in an eight-story building in the Rimal neighborhood in Gaza, killing two senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders and fatally wounded the brother of Baha abu Al-Ata who was killed by a targeted assassination by the IAF in 2019.
Additionally, the Hamas terrorist group announced on Tuesday that they had dead and missing personnel from their Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades after the IDF hit a target in the Gaza Strip where they were operating. It is unclear when the strike in question occurred.
“Our response to targeting civilians and assassinating our militants and the militants of the resistance will be a harsh response, and the enemy must wait for us at all times,” said a spokesperson for PIJ’s Al-Quds Brigades on Tuesday.
After a series of heavy barrages were fired towards Ashkelon and Ashdod, Abu Ubaidah claimed that Hamas had fired 137 rockets within five minutes.
Pictures and videos from Gaza showed a number of buildings heavily damaged due to the strikes.
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) May 11, 2021
The escalation in the South comes after a day of violence in Jerusalem where tens of thousands of Israelis gathered to celebrate Jerusalem Day on Monday, marking the liberation of Israel’s capital city in 1967. Violence broke out on the Temple Mount and around the Old City. Dozens of Palestinians and Israelis were said to have been injured during the clashes.
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