“The time has come to deal a death blow to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement,” said IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, noting that “we are at the culmination of an operation aimed primarily at protecting Israeli citizens and sovereignty.”

Earlier in the day, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, announced that “by order of the leadership of the Al-Quds Brigades, all forces operating in the field, led by (Special Forces and Elite Units), to work according to the readiness instructions, before receiving the instructions in force well in advance, as planned.

The Israeli army expected to continue bombing the Gaza Strip from the air for a week, noting that there are currently no ceasefire negotiations with Islamic Jihad.

An army spokesman told AFP that the Israeli army was “preparing to continue the operation for a week … and there are no ceasefire negotiations currently underway,” confirming Israeli media reports.

In turn, Palestinian resistance groups have responded to Israeli raids in the Gaza Strip with rocket-propelled grenades at communities in the Gaza shell, Tel Aviv, Tar Ben Gurion and other Israeli targets.