Gaza Clashes: Cross-border battle resumes between Israeli army and Islamic Jihad

A cross-border battle between the Israeli army and militants in the Gaza Strip resumed on Wednesday, with the second day of attacks sparked by Israel's targeted killing of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader.

Shortly before dawn Rocket launches out of Gaza triggering renewed warning alarms in Israeli communities near the territory. Schools, banks and government offices were closed in Gaza, and residents hunkered down as rockets and counterstrikes screamed overhead. In Israel, schools within 15 miles of Gaza were closed, keeping 300,000 students at home. Crossings into the territory remained closed.

The Israeli military said it struck rocket-launch sites in Gaza soon after the fusillade began, continuing strikes against purported Islamic Jihad military sites that have killed 19 people since Tuesday and injured more than 45, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel said at least six of those killed were militants.

According to the military220 launches from Gaza into Israeli territory have been detected so far. The country’s state-of-the-art air defense system, Iron Dome, intercepted dozens of rockets, and most others fell into open areas. But several homes, businesses, and roadways were hit. Israel reported no fatalities but many minor injuries, mostly from the scramble of thousands of people to shelters when the alarms sounded.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was continuing its strategy of hitting only assets controlled by the Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed militant group that Israel blames for a string of recent terrorist attacks. Officials were cautiously optimistic that Hamas, the militant group with governing authority in Gaza, would stay out of the fight.

Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan said that Israel still holds Hamas responsible for all violence emanating from the territory, but he confirmed that the focus was on Islamic Jihad for now.