British Foreign Minister Liz Truss on Saturday supported Israel’s right to “defend itself” and also called for a “quick end to violence” following clashes in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“The United Kingdom supports Israel and its right to defend itself,” wrote the head of British diplomacy on the Twitter platform.
“We condemn the terrorist groups that open fire on civilians and the violence that has caused casualties on both sides,” added Truss, who aspires to replace Boris Johnson as head of the British government.
At a time when 12 people have died and more than 90 have been wounded, due to the launching of ‘rockets’ by Islamic Jihad and the response of the Israeli army, the official also called for “a quick end to the violence”.
The current spike in tension began after the arrest, on Monday, of the top leader of the Islamic Jihad organization in the West Bank, Bassem Saadi.
Faced with rumors about the possibility of retaliatory armed actions from the Palestinian enclave, Israel launched a preventive attack against jihad targets in Gaza.
The Palestinian movement Hamas remains, for the time being, on the sidelines of the conflict, which has managed to contain its intensity, but has already condemned Israel, considering that it is “again committing crimes”.
One of the 12 registered dead is Taiseer al-Jabari, leader of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad in central and northern Gaza, who headed the unit responsible for launching several missiles against Israel during the escalation of the conflict in May 2021, according to the Israeli army.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, among the victims is also a 5-year-old boy who, like Al-Jabari, was killed in an airstrike on a residential building in Gaza City.
For its part, Islamic Jihad indicated that it had fired “more than 100” ‘rockets’ at Israel, as a “first response” to Israeli attacks on the Palestinian enclave.
Israel and armed groups in Gaza have been fighting several conflicts, the last of which took place in May 2021 and lasted 11 days, resulting in the deaths of 260 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Source: Observadora
