Sj Desk
Gaza: Israeli forces have killed the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad's member Bahaa Abu el-Atta (42) in the Gaza Strip in an air strike early on Tuesday.
This has been considered as Israel's maiden high-profile killing of an Islamic Jihad leader since the 2014 war.
Confirming the strike, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Twitter, "We just targeted Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, Baha Abu el-Atta."
"(He) was directly responsible for hundreds of terror attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers," and "his next attack was imminent."
Islamic Jihad too confirmed the killing of Bahaa Abu el-Atta and his wife in the rocket strike targetted at his home in Gaza Strip.
After confirming the killing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference, said, "All terrorists think alike. They think they can harm civilians and hide behind civilians. We have proven that we can hit with surgical precision."
Meanwhile, Hamas, the Palestinian organisation that administers the Gaza Strip, have wowed to retaliated in the strongest sense. It said that Israel "bears full responsibility for all consequences of this escalation".
