Israel Assassinates Gaza Commander, Shattering Uneasy Truce

(Bloomberg) -- Israel assassinated a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, touching off a barrage of Palestinian rocket fire at Israeli communities and Israeli airstrikes that shattered a truce that’s largely held for months.

Islamic Jihad accused Israel of also targeting another of its top commanders, Akram al-Ajouri, in the Syrian capital, Damascus. In a statement, it said two other people, including al-Ajouri’s son, were killed and warned that “Israel has crossed all the red lines.” Israel had no comment on this attack.

The predawn missile strike on a building in Gaza City killed Bahaa Abu al-Ata, a mastermind of hundreds of attacks on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised briefing. Military chief Lieutenant-General Aviv Kochavi called the militant commander the main obstacle to maintaining the unofficial cease-fire with Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

Al-Ata was planning another assault, and the raid was ordered under Israel’s policy of stopping what it calls “ticking bombs,” Netanyahu said. After dozens of rockets bombarded communities close to the border with Gaza, and as far north as Israel’s Tel Aviv heartland, the military began a series of strikes on Islamic Jihad targets, including an attack on two militants on motorcycles planning a rocket launch, it said.

“We will attack whoever attacks us,” said Netanyahu. “Israel is not interested in escalation,” he added, “but we will do whatever it takes to protect ourselves. But that can take time. We have to let the army do its job.”

The violence rattled an internationally brokered truce that has for the most part kept confrontations at bay since the last major round of fighting in May. It comes at a time of political turmoil in Israel, which is still struggling to form a government after two back-to-back elections.

The shekel pared losses, and was down 0.2% at midday. The benchmark TA-35 stock index was down for a third day.

Islamic Jihad spokesman Mos’ab al-Briem called the assassination “a declaration of war on our Palestinian people” and vowed retaliation. A Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qasem, told Al Jazeera TV that the group is “coordinating a response to Israel’s crimes with the rest of the Palestinian resistance.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statement from his office, “condemned the continuous Israeli escalation against our people in the Gaza Strip.”

Three Gazans were killed in the attacks -- al-Ata and his wife, and one of the motorcyclists. There were no serious casualties in Israel, where a missile-defense system intercepted at least 20 rockets headed for built-up areas, the military said.

In areas targeted by rocket squads, residents were instructed to stay close to bomb shelters, banks went on an emergency footing, and schools and universities were closed for the day. Israel’s security cabinet convened to discuss the developments, and Israel Radio said Egypt was trying to mediate a cease-fire.

Assassinations, once a more frequent tool in Israel’s arsenal, have become relatively rare, and military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said Israel is not “going back to targeted military killings.” It has delivered messages to Palestinian militias that this operation was a one-time event, he said.

If violence continues to get worse “Israel should hit Islamic Jihad hard, Hamas, too, if involved, and then go back to crisis management,” said Chuck Freilich, a former deputy national security adviser. Any attempts to solve the longstanding conflict through solely military means “will prove far more costly than the threat itself,” he said.

--With assistance from Ivan Levingston, Alisa Odenheimer and Fadwa Hodali.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yaacov Benmeleh in Tel Aviv at ybenmeleh@bloomberg.net;Saud Abu Ramadan in Gaza City at sramadan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams

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