A ceasefire has come into effect after two days of intense fighting between Israel and the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Thursday, as reported by The Times of Israel.
Xinhua quoted Gaza Health Ministry as saying said that the confrontation claimed the lives of 32 people and injured 95 others in Gaza. Among the casualties include a senior Islamic Jihad commander, and six members of a Palestinian family, who died in the overnight strike that targeted a house in Deir al-Balah.
The confrontation escalated early on Tuesday after Israeli airstrikes killed Baha Abu Al-Ata, a top commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, triggering a fierce response.
Baha Abu al-Ata, 42, was killed with his wife in the airstrike that ripped through the building in Gaza City's Shejaiya district.
The Israeli military has said that the operation against Al-Atta was authorised by country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Abu Al-Atta was responsible for most of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's activity in the Gaza Strip and was a ticking bomb.
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