IDF kills member of Islamic Jihad 'rocket squad' in Gaza
Army says strike on motorbike carrying two people thwarted 'immediate threat'; UN envoy said trying to contact terror group as rocket fire hits large areas of Israel after Jihad commander killed in predawn airstrike
One person was killed Tuesday morning in a strike in an IDF airstrike in the Gaza Strip, hours after a similar attack led to the death of Islamic Jihad commander Baha Abu al-Atta.
The second airstrike targeted two members of Islamic Jihad on a motorcycle in the northern Strip, killing one of them, Palestinian officials said.
The IDF said the two were en route to carry out rocket strikes on Israel.
"IDF aircraft attacked two operatives from Islamic Jihad's long-range rocket team in the northern Gaza Strip," the military said in a statement.
"The attack was carried out in order to remove an immediate threat, one casualty was identified."
Southern and central Israel has come under repeated rocket fire from Gaza since the IDF strike that killed Abu al-Atta in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Dozens of people have been treated for shock and injuries sustained while running for bomb shelters. Two people were lightly wounded by shrapnel in Gan Yavne near Ashdod and Moshav Be'er Tuvia in the south.
Meanwhile, the pro-Hezbollah Al-Mayadeen television station reported that the UN special envoy to the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, has tried to make contact with Islamic Jihad officials, but they refused to respond.
The European Union has called for an immediate halt to the rocket fire on Israeli population centers, calling it "totally unacceptable."
"This morning, Israel conducted an operation inside Gaza targeting a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad," the EU said in a statement. "In response, rockets were fired from Gaza on southern and central Israel.
"The firing of rockets on civilian populations is totally unacceptable and must immediately stop. A rapid and complete de-escalation is now necessary to safeguard the lives and security of Palestinian and Israeli civilians," the statement said.
