Tayseer al-Jabari, who was assassinated on Friday by Israel Defense Forces (IDF), was a senior official in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist organization and its commander in the northern Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union and the United States.
Jabari was the close associate of Bahaa Abu al-Atta, who is regarded as his predecessor and who was assassinated by Israel in November 2019, sparking days of fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad.
Smoke rose from a building where al-Jaabari was apparently killed and glass and rubble were strewn across the street amid the sound of ambulances racing to other sites.
Hundreds marched in a funeral procession for him and others who were killed, with many mourners waving Palestinian and Islamic Jihad flags and calling for revenge.
“He planned numerous deadly attacks against Israel,” the IDF said of the targeted strike in a statement on Friday.
"He held several senior positions within the organization in the past, including that of chief of operations and the chief coordinator with Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group ruling over Gaza," the statement read.
“His daily duties included terrorist attacks against Israeli targets and in the past several days, he made plans to carry out missile attacks against Israeli citizens and fire anti-tank missiles at IDF vehicles,” the military said.
The operation was carried out "in cooperation with the Shin Bet, based on precise intelligence," the statement said, calling it a "targeted preventive action to eliminate a concrete threat."