On Friday, 5th August, 2022, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it has begun Operation Breaking Dawn against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
The operation was announced in a tweet via the IDF’s verified Twitter handle. It says; “Due to the imminent threat of attack against Israeli civilians posed by the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in Gaza, we began Operation ‘Breaking Dawn’ earlier today.”
Before the announcement was made, Israeli Defence Forces had said they targeted and killed a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza.
The senior commander, Tayseer Jabari, was said to be responsible for multiple terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.
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At least 9 others were killed in the air strike that killed commander Jabari, including a 5-year-old girl.
Images broadcast by Israeli television stations captured a string of missiles lighting up the sky as explosions rang out and air raid sirens wailed in central and southern Israel as darkness fell.
The Islamic Jihad militant group claimed it had fired more than 100 rockets in Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv.
However, today being the second day of Operation Breaking Dawn, the IDF said over 160 rockets have been launched from Gaza by the terrorists.
According to IDF, 30 rockets landed in Gaza, 130 crossed into Israel, with 60 missiles intercepted and the rest landed in open areas. No Israeli injuries.
IDF spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ran Kohavi said in a press release that despite the sirens in Gush Dan (Holon, Bat Yam and Rishon Letzion) no rockets were fired toward central Israel. All rockets have been and continue to be short range, targeting communities in the south.
Both the IDF and PIJ say there is no talk of a ceasefire. Both sides will continue their strikes, nevertheless Egypt and Qatar are still trying to mediate to bring the violence to an end as quickly as possible.
