Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Iyad al-Hassani was killed on Friday in an Israeli airstrike, according to Palestinian reports later confirmed by the IDF and the terror group.
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Hassani, known by his kunya Abu Anas, was in an apartment building near Gaza City when he came under Israeli army air assault. Some reports suggested that he managed to escape at the last moment.
Hassani was Islamic Jihad’s operations chief and served as the head of the organization's military council. It was also reported that his personal assistant Mohammed Abed al-A'al was killed in the attack as well.
Hassani is one of the most prominent figures in the terrorist organization's military wing Al-Quds Brigades and has been wanted by Israel for over 26 years for his part in two terrorist attacks inside Israel before Al-Quds Brigades was annexed into Islamic Jihad and a series of additional attacks during the Second Intifada.
Earlier Thursday, an Israeli defense official said that the IDF was preparing for the possibility that Hamas will join the fighting. "The rope we're walking on is becoming thinner and the chances of Hamas getting involved are increasing,” the source said. "We will continue to strike at Jihad Islamic. A ceasefire is not currently on the table."
Meanwhile, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in his weekly address accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of fomenting the conflict in Gaza to divert attention from internal tensions within Israel.
"Netanyahu, the enemy, started the escalation. The world is ignoring what's happening in Gaza, and the international community isn't intervening," he said.
"He wants to restore Israeli deterrence and escape the internal crisis that threatens Israel."
The IDF said on Friday that since the beginning of Operation Shield and Arrow, 973 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, 761 of which entered Israeli territory, and 296 were intercepted by Iron Dome and other defense systems. So far, the IDF has struck 254 targets in the Palestinian enclave.
Meanwhile, the Palestinians reported that 33 have been killed since the fighting began and 110 others were injured.