Israel announces the death of three senior members of Islamic Jihad in an attack on the Gaza Strip

The Palestinian media report at least nine dead in the bombings, which put an end to the agreed ceasefire

MADRID, 9 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have reported at dawn on Tuesday that they are attacking positions "targets of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad" in the Gaza Strip.

The attacks began around 02:30 local time, in an operation that the Army has dubbed 'Shield and Arrow', and in which, according to their information, three high-ranking officials of Islamic Jihad have been killed.

They have been identified as the commander of the northern area of ​​the Strip, Jalil Bahitini, allegedly responsible for the launching of projectiles from the Palestinian territory in the last month; Tarek Ezz al Din, allegedly responsible for planning attacks in Israel; and Jahad A'Nam, secretary of the Islamic Jihad military council.

As confirmed by a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, there are at least nine deaths in Gaza, including children and women, according to their statements to Al-Aqsa TV collected by the Palestinian portal Felesteen.

In addition, the head of the Government Information Office in Gaza, Salama Maarouf, has condemned the "brutal and sudden aggression" that "demonstrates the bloody criminal mentality of the occupation", and has called on citizens to pay attention to official information, and not rumors shared through social networks, a request echoed by the Palestinian Ministry of the Interior.

On the other hand, the Israeli National Security Minister, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, has published a message on his social networks shortly after the IDF reported the attack, writing: "It is time!"

Israel has reported that since this morning the passage has been closed on all roads near the Strip, and movement has been prohibited in a range of 40 kilometers from Gaza until 6:00 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday, asking the inhabitants to take refuge from a possible air attack from the Palestinian territory as a response.

Classes have been canceled until further notice and only those people who work near a shelter will be able to go to their jobs.

The bombardment occurs during the previously agreed truce, in force since last Wednesday, after the exchange of more than 100 rockets in one of the most tense moments between Israelis and Palestinians, after the death in prison during a hunger strike of Jader Adnan , a senior Islamic Jihad official.

The ceasefire was reached between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and would have counted on mediation by the United Nations and the governments of Qatar and Egypt.