The military operation in the Gaza Strip will continue “as long as necessary,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said on Sunday.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 29 Palestinians have been killed, including six children and four women, and over 250 others injured in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza since Friday.
Retaliatory rocket fire from the Islamic Jihad group was triggered by the Israeli offensive.
The violence came following the detention of Bassam al-Saadi, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad, in a raid by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Cited by the public broadcaster, Lapid expressed that the airstrikes in Gaza are carried out in a “reasonable way to reduce to a minimum the harm to noncombatants.”
The killing of senior Islamic Jihad commander Khaled Mansour in an airstrike in Gaza on Saturday was a result of Israeli intelligence and operational effort, Lapid indicated.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that, until removing what he said were threats to Israelis, the Israeli army and Shin Bet internal security service will continue to act against the Islamic Jihad group.
