On May 13, 2023, Israeli aircraft bombed Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza. The military said that they struck Islamic Jihad command centres and rocket launchers. Later, Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza towards Israel. This resulted in Israelis running to bomb shelters, but there were no reports of casualties inside Israel.
On the same day, violence also spilled over into the occupied West Bank on a fifth day of fighting. Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli raid on the outskirts of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Clashes had erupted, and gunmen exchanged fire with Israeli forces.
Egypt has been trying to mediate a truce to the latest outbreak of violence, which has so far killed at least 33 Palestinians and one Israeli. More than 140 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have died in clashes since January.
Since Tuesday, when Israeli forces launched a campaign against the group, six top Islamic Jihad commanders have been killed. Islamic Jihad, the largest armed group in Gaza after the ruling Islamist Hamas, has since fired more than 1,000 rockets, some deep into Israel. One woman was killed on Thursday when an apartment was struck in a Tel Aviv suburb.
At least four women and six children have died in densely populated Gaza, an impoverished coastal territory blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007. Israel says four Palestinians were killed by misfired Gaza rockets, which Islamic Jihad has denied.
