Middle East: U.S. Buttress Israel’s Attack on Terrorist Groups

After silent for more than one year, severe conflict between Israel and Palestine broke out. On August 7th, Israel conducted air strike on Gaza Corridor and confirmed death of a senior commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad at a crowded refugee camp in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rocket missiles to Israel, which exacerbated the risk of an all-out war.

Israel claimed the action aimed at bombing the terrorist organization hiding in Gaza. Palestinian Islamic Jihad was designated as a global terrorist organization in October 1997 by U.S. State Department. It’s believed this organization is aided by Iran.

In the air raid on Saturday, Khalid Mansour, a commander of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was killed in a flat, located in a refugee camp of south Gaza. This 3-story building was destroyed into ruins, and the surrounding buildings were also damaged.

This air raid claimed 2 terrorists and 5 civilians. In the air strike on Sunday, there were another 7 casualties. Israel military said Israel has been targeting suspected missiles launch pads of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The air strike and missile attack operation lasted several hours. Israel military expressed that Gaza’s militants had fired approximately 580 rocket missiles towards Israel. Most of them were being intercepted, in which 2 of rocket missiles shot down were aiming at Jerusalem.