Eight killed as Israeli strikes hit Gaza

Israeli forces bombed targets they said were linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza on Friday, killing a commander and prompting vows of retaliation from the militant group, which said it could hit Tel Aviv in response.

Local health officials said at least eight people, including a five-year-old child, had been killed and 44 wounded in the strikes, which came after days of escalating tensions following the arrest of a Palestinian militant leader during the week.

"The IDF is currently striking in the Gaza Strip. A special situation has been declared on the Israeli home front," the military said in a statement.

Israel's Army Radio reported that Israel was calling up military reservists for the Gaza fence.

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad official said Tayseer Al Jaabari, a senior commander in the movement, had been killed in the strikes, which hit several targets around the densely populated strip.

Smoke rose from a building where Al Jabaari was killed and glass and rubble were strewn across the street amid the sound of ambulances racing to other sites.

The strikes came after Israel arrested Bassam Al Saadi, a senior leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin earlier this week.

It subsequently closed off all Gaza crossings and some nearby roads over fears of retaliatory attacks from the group, which has a stronghold in Gaza, further restricting the Palestinian movement.

"The goal of this operation is the elimination of a concrete threat against the citizens of Israel and the civilians living adjacent to the Gaza Strip," Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement.

In an interview on Al Mayadeen television, a pro-Iranian Lebanese channel, Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Al Nakhala vowed retaliation for the strikes.

"There are no red lines in this battle and Tel Aviv will fall under the rockets of resistance, as well as all Israeli cities," he said.

• MENA