JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group fired a barrage of rockets at Jerusalem early Sunday, in the latest round of fierce cross-border border attacks that began Friday between the Israeli military and the Gaza-based militant group.
The salvos, just after 8 a.m. Sunday, came as hundreds of Orthodox Jews marked a somber fast day by visiting a volatile holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem. Warning sirens wailed in villages in the surrounding hills.
There were no immediate reports of casualties; most of the rockets launched by the militants over the past two days have been ineffective, with the vast majority being either intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system or falling harmlessly in open areas, according to the Israeli military.
Israel had pounded the blockaded and impoverished coastal enclave of Gaza with air and artillery strikes on Friday and Saturday, saying it was attacking Islamic Jihad military targets, including some located in residential buildings. The militants have fired almost 600 rockets at Israel.
In Gaza, residents emerged after a night of bloodshed amid what has become the most violent conflagration between Israel and Gaza militants in more than a year.
At least 29 people have been killed so far in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry there, and more than 250 have been injured. Six children and four women were among the dead, the ministry said on Sunday.
Israel said some of those children were killed on Saturday night when an Islamic Jihad rocket misfired and fell short in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military insisted it had not been operating in that area at the time and released video footage on Sunday of what it said was the failed launch.
The military also chalked up what Israeli officials and analysts hailed as an important operational success on Saturday night with the elimination of a senior Islamic Jihad commander responsible for the southern region of Gaza, Khaled Mansour.
After hours of uncertainty, Islamic Jihad confirmed the commander’s death early Sunday. His body was found under the rubble of a building in a residential area along with the bodies of two more militants and five civilians, including three women and a child.
“We affirm that the blood of the martyrs will not be spilled in vain,” the military wing of Islamic Jihad said in a statement, adding, “The blood of the leader Khaled Mansour will ignite the battle to defend Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” referring to the holy site in the city that Jews revere as the Temple Mount.
The killing of Mr. Mansour came a day after Israel’s opening strikes of the campaign that eliminated the military commander of Islamic Jihad’s northern region, Taysir al-Jabari. Earlier in the week, Israel had arrested a senior figure from the group in the West Bank, leading to threats of reprisals. Israel said its initial airstrikes were pre-emptive, aimed to stop Islamic Jihad from following through on those threats.
Hamas, the much larger Islamic militant group that dominates in Gaza, has so far stayed out of the fighting, a factor that may well limit the scope and duration of the conflict.
The last major Gaza conflagration, fought over 11 days in May 2021, began after Hamas fired a barrage of rockets toward Jerusalem following days of Israeli-Palestinian confrontations there.
It remains unclear how long the fighting will continue. Israeli officials said that Egypt was deeply involved in trying to secure a cease-fire.
Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said on Sunday that “quiet will be answered with quiet, but if they keep firing we will keep acting,” reiterating a position articulated many times before as Israel tried to wind down past campaigns in Gaza.
Iyad Abuheweila and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.
