Israeli troops launched a wave of air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, continuing a three-day series of mass attacks intended to take out top commanders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have called the operation “Shield and Arrow” and initiated it on Tuesday in retaliation for recent Islamic Jihad rocket attacks.
IDF officials on Wednesday night said the operation killed Ali Ghali, the commander of Islamic Jihad’s rocket launching force, along with two other top leaders of the militant group who it claimed were responsible for the rocket strikes.
Israel’s latest wave of strikes has alarmed human rights groups over the deaths and injuries of civilians.
The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, a group dedicated to documenting abuses in the Gaza Strip, said 25 civilians have died so far, including six children and four women, while 76 people have been injured.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants have responded to the IDF’s mass air strikes with rocket attacks, further escalating the situation. Many of the rockets were taken down by Israeli air defense systems.
One rocket strike killed an Israeli citizen and wounded several others after it struck an apartment building in the central city of Rehovot, according to police and an Israeli rescue service.
The death marks the first civilian casualty on Israel’s side so far in the latest round of violence.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a militant group formed in 1981 that has advocated for a free Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. has tried to walk a fine line between supporting Israel, its most crucial partner in the Middle East, and backing a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.
On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides tweeted he was “concerned about the continuing rocket launches today.”
“We stand by Israel’s right to defend itself,” he wrote. “Working towards a quick deescalation.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin talked with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant this week after the Islamic Jihad rocket attacks.
Austin “underscored his continued support for Israel’s right to defend its people” while urging a wider goal of de-escalation, according to a readout of the call.
—Updated at 5:19 p.m.