Israeli-Palestinian violence flared this week as part of what appears to be the worst burst of fighting in months. Israeli warplanes struck targets in the Gaza Strip on Friday and Palestinian militants fired rockets toward Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and southern Israel. One of the world’s most enduring conflict is never far from escalating. But here’s some context to help you understand what’s been happening lately.
Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian rockets: What is happening in Gaza?
Violence has for months been surging in the Palestinian-claimed, Israel-occupied West Bank as Israel’s most right-wing government in history has conducted raids on suspected militants who have targeted Israelis.
Following the hunger-strike death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, while in Israeli custody, Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group that rejects Israel’s right to exist, launched a barrage of rocket fire at Israel from the Gaza Strip, a coastal enclave controlled by Hamas, a separate militant group.
The Israeli counterassault over the last few days has killed at least 31 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip including seven children and four women, according to the U.N. humanitarian office. One Israeli, a 70-year-old man, was killed in the central Israeli city of Rehovot when a rocket fired from Gaza hit a residential building.
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Islamic Jihad: What does it want?
Islamic Jihad is one of two groups in the Gaza Strip. The other being Hamas, a de facto civilian government in Gaza that has an estimated army of some 30,000. Islamic Jihad and Hamas are often united in their fight against Israel. But Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, has sat out this round of fighting.
Islamic Jihad is a hardline organization, backed by Iran, that wants to establish an Islamic state on all the lands historically claimed by Palestinians. This includes many parts of modern Israel.
It has led attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians.
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Cease-fire efforts: What happens now?
Two attempts at a cease-fire earlier in the week faltered. And Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that Israeli officials pulled out of new talks in Egypt on Friday after Islamic Jihad unleashed rockets toward Jerusalem.
Ihsan Attaya, a senior official from Islamic Jihad, said it wants Israel to cease its policy of targeted killings. Attaya said Friday that the mediators “have been unable to provide us with any guarantees.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Friday that he was conducting a security assessment to mount a further response. “We continue,” he tweeted.
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Contributing: Associated Press
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