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Israel says it struck Islamic Jihad sites in Gaza and Syria Israel strikes Islamic Jihad sites in Gaza and Syria after rocket attacks
(about 2 hours later)
The Israeli military says it has launched air strikes against a Palestinian militant group in Gaza and Syria in response to rocket fire. The Israeli military has carried out air strikes against the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza and Syria in response to rocket fire.
Israel's military said it had struck Islamic Jihad targets in southern Damascus and the Gaza Strip on Sunday. On Sunday, more than 20 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel, causing some damage.
In a rare acknowledgement of a strike on Syria, the Israeli military said it targeted "a hub of Islamic Jihad's activity". Overnight, the Israeli military struck what it called PIJ "terror targets", including weapons development and training facilities near Damascus.
Syria said its air defences shot down most of the Israeli missiles. PIJ said two fighters were killed in Syria and vowed to avenge their deaths.
Four people were wounded in Gaza, health officials say, but there have been no immediate reports of fatalities from the Israeli strikes. Gaza's health ministry reported that four Palestinians were wounded in the territory.
The strikes were launched after southern Israel was hit by a barrage of at least 20 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip earlier on Sunday. There were no reports of casualties. On Monday, another six rockets were fired at southern Israel, five of which were intercepted, according to the Israeli military. There were no reports of any injuries.
The hostilities began on Sunday morning, when Israel said it killed an Islamic Jihad member along its border fence with the Gaza Strip. The hostilities escalated on Sunday morning, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had killed a PIJ militant near Israel's border fence with the Gaza Strip.
Israel's military said the man was attempting to plant an explosive device. The IDF said troops identified two men attempting to plant an explosive device on the fence and opened fire at them.
A video shared widely on social media showed an Israeli bulldozer scooping up the body of the man, provoking anger among Palestinians.A video shared widely on social media showed an Israeli bulldozer scooping up the body of the man, provoking anger among Palestinians.
Some Palestinians called for retaliation and hours later, rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, setting off air raid sirens. The IDF said it removed the body in a way that prevented further danger to its troops. But some Palestinians called for retaliation and hours later, several barrages of rockets were fired from Gaza towards southern Israel.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rockets, calling them a response to the killing of one its fighters along the Gaza border. The IDF said 16 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system and that 10 others fell in open terrain.
Islamic Jihad, which is backed by Iran, is one of the strongest militant groups in Gaza. Allied with Hamas, it has fought in a number of wars against Israel in recent decades. Israeli media reported that one home and one car were damaged, and that two civilians were treated for mild injuries in Ashkelon - one woman who tripped and hit her head while running to a shelter, and another woman who suffered from shock.
Violence between Israel and Islamic Jihad flared up last November, when an Israeli air strike killed a senior commander of the militant group in Gaza. PIJ claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, calling it a response to the killing of its fighter at the border fence.
Clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians were seen earlier this month too, days after US President Donald Trump unveiled his peace plan. On Sunday night, Israeli fighter jets carried out retaliatory strikes on PIJ targets.
The IDF said the targets in Gaza included the group's headquarters in the southern city of Khan Younis and storage sites in neighbouring Rafah.
In Syria, a base used by PIJ to develop new weapons and produce tens of kilograms of rocket fuel each month was struck, according to the IDF.
The IDF also said it hit a PIJ squad preparing to fire rockets from northern Gaza.
Syrian state media cited a military source as saying Syrian air defences intercepted the majority of the Israeli missiles fired towards the surroundings of Damascus shortly before midnight on Sunday. The source did not mention any casualties.
But PIJ later confirmed in a statement that the air strikes in Syria killed two of its members, naming them as Salim Salim and Ziad Mansour.
The group said their "deaths will be avenged" and that the attack was "proof of the Israeli failure to deal with Islamic Jihad fighters in the battlefield".
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said four members of Iran-backed militias were also killed in the Israeli strikes in Syria.
On Monday morning, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that a "large-scale military operation" in Gaza might be unavoidable.
"War is a last resort, but there may be no escape from it. We've prepared a radically different campaign," he told Radio Jerusalem.
PIJ, which is backed by Iran, is one of the strongest militant groups in Gaza.
In November, an Israeli air strike killed a senior PIJ commander in Gaza who the IDF said had undermined efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.