Israel releases video of deadly Gaza strike

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has released video footage of an airstrike that killed Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander Taysir al-Jabari in his Gaza apartment on Friday. Palestinian sources say eight others were killed and over 40 wounded in the attack.

The footage, apparently shot by a surveillance drone, captured the moment an Israeli missile slammed into the apartment block, blowing a two-storey hole in the building and setting off explosions across at least three floors inside.

The IDF confirmed shortly afterwards that the strike killed al-Jabari, who took over as commanding officer of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s (PIJ) Gaza Division after his predecessor, Baha Abu al-Ata, was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in 2019.

Between ten and 20 PIJ terrorists were also targeted in the Israeli operation, dubbed ‘Breaking Dawn’ by the IDF. Among those killed were members of a “terrorist squad” who were “on their way to carry out an anti-tank missile and sniper attack,” the Israeli military claimed.

A separate video released by the IDF shortly afterwards showed a strike on a PIJ observation post, apparently conducted with artillery.

Palestinian officials said that, apart from al-Jabari, at least seven people were killed in the strikes, including a five-year-old girl, and more than 40 were injured.

Friday’s operation came after Israeli officials warned for days of an impending PIJ attack from Gaza. The militant organization placed its fighters on high alert earlier this week after Israeli forces arrested the group’s West Bank leader, Bassem Saadi, in the city of Jenin on Monday. A Palestinian teenager was killed in the raid on Saadi’s home, triggering outcry across the Palestinian territories.

In the days leading up to Operation Breaking Dawn, Israel blockaded roads in and out of Gaza. The military also declared a state of emergency within 80 kilometers (50 miles) of its borders with the Palestinian enclave.