children and a commander killed in Israeli attack on Gaza

A senior commander of a Palestinian armed group and several children have been killed in the Gaza Strip as Israeli jets bombed the besieged enclave for a second day.

In a statement on Sunday, Islamic Jihad confirmed that Khaled Mansour, its commander in the south of the Gaza Strip, had been killed in an Israeli raid on Saturday.

Mansour is the second high-ranking member of Islamic Jihad to be killed since Israel began attacking Gaza on Friday, when it assassinated the group’s commander in the north, Taysir al-Jabari.

Israel has warned that its campaign against Islamic Jihad could last a week, and its attacks on Gaza have destroyed apartment buildings and struck refugee camps.

At least four children were killed in a blast close to the Jabaliya refugee camp on Saturday, according to Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip. It blamed Israel for the deaths, but the military denied any responsibility, saying the explosion was caused by a failed rocket launched by Islamic Jihad.latest deaths bring the tally of children killed since Friday to six, and the total toll among Palestinians to 24. At least 204 others have also been wounded, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Palestinian fighters have responded to the bombings by launching more than 400 rockets at Israel. Most of the rockets were intercepted, and there have been no reports of serious casualties, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

The violence has raised fears of another war on Gaza by Israel, just 15 months after a month-long conflict that killed more than 260 people.“The last war caused widespread devastation here in the Gaza Strip.

Israel stopped the planned transport of fuel into Gaza shortly before it launched its attacks on Friday, crippling the territory’s lone power plant and reducing electricity to around four hours per day and drawing warnings from health officials that hospitals would be severely impacted within days.

This is an appeal to extend a helping hand to the ministry of health in Gaza Strip right now. There’s a shortage of electricity. It’s been declared now that it will only be four hours a day. This means we will rely in the hospitals on generators.

Generators consume half a million litres every month. We do not have this fuel right now.

”Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo is talking “around the clock” with both sides to ease the violence.

An Egyptian intelligence delegation headed by Major General Ahmed Abdelkhaliq arrived in Israel on Saturday and would be travelling to Gaza for mediation talks, two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency. They were hoping to secure a day’s ceasefire in order to carry out the talks, the sources added.

“Intensive efforts have been made this evening and the movement listened to the mediators, but these efforts haven’t reached an agreement yet,” an Islamic Jihad official told Reuters late on Saturday.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority has also condemned the Israeli attacks.The violence poses an early test for Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who assumed the role of caretaker leader ahead of elections in November, when he hopes to keep the top job.Lapid, a centrist former TV host and author, has experience in diplomacy having served as foreign minister in the outgoing government, but has thin security credentials.

A conflict with Gaza could burnish his standing and give him a boost as he faces off against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a security hawk who led the country during three of its four wars with Hamas.

The United States said on Saturday that it fully supported Israel’s right to defend itself and urged all sides to avoid further escalation, while Iran, which backs Islamic Jihad, said Israel will “pay a heavy price” for the latest attacks.

United Nations and European Union Middle East envoys have also expressed concern about the violence.