Nearly three months ago, Khader Adnan — a Palestinian prisoner in Israel and a leader of an armed Palestinian group called Islamic Jihad — began a hunger strike to protest his detention. Adnan, who was 45, died last week.
Almost immediately, his death set off violence. That afternoon, Islamic Jihad launched more than 100 projectiles toward southern Israel. In response, Israeli officials began planning a counterassault.
A week later, Israeli missiles struck three apartments across the Gaza Strip within seconds of one another early Tuesday morning, killing three Islamic Jihad commanders as most Gazans were sleeping. The assault also killed 10 civilians, according to Palestinian officials, including some of the targets’ wives and children.
LEBANON
40 miles
SYRIA
Mediterranean Sea
West
Bank
Jerusalem
Gaza Strip
JORDAN
ISRAEL
EGYPT
LEBANON
40 miles
SYRIA
Mediterranean Sea
West
Bank
Jerusalem
Gaza Strip
JORDAN
ISRAEL
EGYPT
By The New York Times
Islamic Jihad retaliated a day later, firing hundreds of rockets and shells toward Israel. Some reached the skies above the suburbs of Tel Aviv, though Israel’s air defense systems intercepted many of the rockets and prevented casualties.
Yesterday, Israeli forces killed two more of the group’s commanders and continued to bombard Islamic Jihad weapons sites. Islamic Jihad fired rockets, one of which hit an apartment building in central Israel, killing one resident — the first Israeli casualty in this round of fighting. This morning the cross-border fighting resumed, with Islamic Jihad firing rockets toward the hills around Jerusalem.
At least 31 Palestinians were killed in the hostilities, six of them children, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel said that Islamic Jihad’s own misfired rockets caused four of the deaths.
2. What is Islamic Jihad?
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, founded in 1981, is a hard-line organization that focuses more on armed struggle against Israel and less on engaging with the Palestinian population. It rejects Israel’s right to exist, as does its primary backer, Iran. The group’s goal is to establish an Islamic state in all the territory of historic Palestine, which includes modern Israel.
Hamas, the larger and more popular Islamic militant group that controls the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, did not take part in the rocket launching, though it did voice support for Islamic Jihad.
Hamas sometimes acts in coordination with Islamic Jihad and at other times acts to restrain it. Hamas’s political wing bears responsibility for Gaza’s more than two million mostly poor residents, so it has very different interests. Operating under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt for security reasons, Hamas’s priorities include keeping open the border crossings between Israel and Gaza for the passage of Palestinian workers and goods.
3. How might it end?
Most likely in another shaky cease-fire, such as the one that was broken first after Adnan died and again by Israel’s deadly predawn strikes on Tuesday.
Islamic Jihad’s stated conditions for a new cease-fire included Israel’s release of Adnan’s body for burial; a halt to assassinations by the Israeli military; and the cancellation of a provocative annual parade this month marking Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.
Even once quiet has been restored, the fundamental enmity will remain. Not much will have changed on either side. The cease-fire will hold till the next round.
4. What is Netanyahu’s role?
In November, Israelis elected the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country’s 75-year history. Its supporters expected it to take more aggressive action against threats from Gaza. The ultranationalist minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, even boycotted government votes in protest of what he considered to be a weak response to the heavy rocket fire last week.
It is always hard to gauge the effect of public opinion on government actions. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a conservative with years of experience as Israel’s longest serving premier, has long had a reputation for being risk averse and not eager for military adventures.
Israeli political and military leaders said they decided to attack Islamic Jihad’s leadership after determining that they needed to deter the group once it began firing more than 100 rockets in a day.
Such Israeli military campaigns are far from unprecedented. The previous, centrist-led government carried out missile strikes in Gaza in August that killed two senior Islamic Jihad commanders and more than 40 other Palestinians, including at least 15 children.
For Islamic Jihad, it probably makes little difference who is sitting in the Israeli government.
For more
Egypt is leading mediation efforts between the two sides.
Israelis’ debates over what their country should be have intensified under its right-wing government.
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Home » Analysis & Comment » A New Round of Middle East Fighting
A New Round of Middle East Fighting
Broken cease-fire
1. How did it start?
Nearly three months ago, Khader Adnan — a Palestinian prisoner in Israel and a leader of an armed Palestinian group called Islamic Jihad — began a hunger strike to protest his detention. Adnan, who was 45, died last week.
Almost immediately, his death set off violence. That afternoon, Islamic Jihad launched more than 100 projectiles toward southern Israel. In response, Israeli officials began planning a counterassault.
A week later, Israeli missiles struck three apartments across the Gaza Strip within seconds of one another early Tuesday morning, killing three Islamic Jihad commanders as most Gazans were sleeping. The assault also killed 10 civilians, according to Palestinian officials, including some of the targets’ wives and children.
LEBANON
40 miles
SYRIA
Mediterranean Sea
West
Bank
Jerusalem
Gaza Strip
JORDAN
ISRAEL
EGYPT
LEBANON
40 miles
SYRIA
Mediterranean Sea
West
Bank
Jerusalem
Gaza Strip
JORDAN
ISRAEL
EGYPT
By The New York Times
Islamic Jihad retaliated a day later, firing hundreds of rockets and shells toward Israel. Some reached the skies above the suburbs of Tel Aviv, though Israel’s air defense systems intercepted many of the rockets and prevented casualties.
Yesterday, Israeli forces killed two more of the group’s commanders and continued to bombard Islamic Jihad weapons sites. Islamic Jihad fired rockets, one of which hit an apartment building in central Israel, killing one resident — the first Israeli casualty in this round of fighting. This morning the cross-border fighting resumed, with Islamic Jihad firing rockets toward the hills around Jerusalem.
At least 31 Palestinians were killed in the hostilities, six of them children, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel said that Islamic Jihad’s own misfired rockets caused four of the deaths.
2. What is Islamic Jihad?
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, founded in 1981, is a hard-line organization that focuses more on armed struggle against Israel and less on engaging with the Palestinian population. It rejects Israel’s right to exist, as does its primary backer, Iran. The group’s goal is to establish an Islamic state in all the territory of historic Palestine, which includes modern Israel.
Hamas, the larger and more popular Islamic militant group that controls the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, did not take part in the rocket launching, though it did voice support for Islamic Jihad.
Hamas sometimes acts in coordination with Islamic Jihad and at other times acts to restrain it. Hamas’s political wing bears responsibility for Gaza’s more than two million mostly poor residents, so it has very different interests. Operating under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt for security reasons, Hamas’s priorities include keeping open the border crossings between Israel and Gaza for the passage of Palestinian workers and goods.
3. How might it end?
Most likely in another shaky cease-fire, such as the one that was broken first after Adnan died and again by Israel’s deadly predawn strikes on Tuesday.
Islamic Jihad’s stated conditions for a new cease-fire included Israel’s release of Adnan’s body for burial; a halt to assassinations by the Israeli military; and the cancellation of a provocative annual parade this month marking Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.
Even once quiet has been restored, the fundamental enmity will remain. Not much will have changed on either side. The cease-fire will hold till the next round.
4. What is Netanyahu’s role?
In November, Israelis elected the most right-wing and religiously conservative government in the country’s 75-year history. Its supporters expected it to take more aggressive action against threats from Gaza. The ultranationalist minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, even boycotted government votes in protest of what he considered to be a weak response to the heavy rocket fire last week.
It is always hard to gauge the effect of public opinion on government actions. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a conservative with years of experience as Israel’s longest serving premier, has long had a reputation for being risk averse and not eager for military adventures.
Israeli political and military leaders said they decided to attack Islamic Jihad’s leadership after determining that they needed to deter the group once it began firing more than 100 rockets in a day.
Such Israeli military campaigns are far from unprecedented. The previous, centrist-led government carried out missile strikes in Gaza in August that killed two senior Islamic Jihad commanders and more than 40 other Palestinians, including at least 15 children.
For Islamic Jihad, it probably makes little difference who is sitting in the Israeli government.
For more
Egypt is leading mediation efforts between the two sides.
Israelis’ debates over what their country should be have intensified under its right-wing government.
THE LATEST NEWS
The End of Title 42
There was relative calm along the U.S.-Mexico border early this morning after the expiration of a pandemic-era policy that had limited illegal immigration.
Who gets in? An immigration expert explains America’s border rules.
“If you cross illegally, how are you going to work?” Hear from some of the people trying to enter the U.S.
Politics
The Supreme Court overturned two New York fraud convictions, continuing the justices’ skepticism toward federal prosecutions of state corruption.
In another ruling, the Supreme Court upheld a California law requiring that pigs be treated humanely.
CNN’s chairman defended airing a live event with Donald Trump: “America was served very well.”
E. Jean Carroll called Trump’s comments on CNN about her “vile” and suggested she might sue him again.
Other Big Stories
The man who choked a homeless man to death on the New York City subway will be charged with manslaughter.
The F.D.A. ended its decades-long ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men.
Travelers to the U.S. no longer need to be vaccinated against Covid to enter the country.
An upscale apartment building became a death trap during the earthquake in Turkey in February. This reconstruction shows how.
An antiques collector bought two grimy stained glass windows from a Philadelphia church. They turned out to be Tiffany.
Opinions
Even if Recep Tayyip Erdogan loses Turkey’s presidential election, the country will face the same issues that have stymied it for years, Cihan Tugal writes.
Here are columns by Charles Blow on President Biden’s age and Jamelle Bouie on the Supreme Court.
MORNING READS
Pop-ups: Some of New York’s best pizzas come from mobile kitchens.
Get out: The 85 residents of a Swiss village have been told to flee — a mountain could collapse onto their tiny town.
Housing: She used to be a professional Airbnb host. Now she’s pushing for affordable housing.
Modern Love: After cutting off contact with her mother, she tried to let go. Now she’s trying to hold on.
Going cashless: All you need is a slim wallet.
Advice from Wirecutter: Find great gifts for college graduates.
Lives Lived: Chris Strachwitz devoted his life to music passed down over generations — cotton-field music, orange-orchard music, mountain music, bayou music — that came from a time before there was such a thing as a music industry. He died at 91.
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC
N.B.A. playoffs: The Nuggets eliminated the Suns last night. And the Celtics beat the Sixers, forcing Game 7 in a series that’s felt backward from the beginning.
Unheralded signing: Jourdan Heilig was working at a fast-food restaurant when the Patriots called. Now he could be a special teams ace.
ARTS AND IDEAS
A pop celebration
It’s time for the annual Eurovision Song Contest this weekend, the international event that has helped launch acts like ABBA and Maneskin. Millions of viewers in Europe and beyond will watch the campy celebration of pop music.
Last year, the Ukrainian act Kalush Orchestra won with a track that mixed rap and folk music. The country’s act this year, the pop duo Tvorchi, will perform a song inspired by the soldiers who fought to defend the city of Mariupol. They spoke with The Times about rehearsing for the contest during air raid sirens.
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to Cook
Asparagus, spinach and leeks give this soup its bright color.
What to Watch
In the biographical documentary “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” the actor time-travels through his career.
Art Fair
See furniture, jewelry, art and antiquities spanning millenniums at TEFAF New York.
News Quiz
How well did you keep up with the headlines this week?
Now Time to Play
The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were effecting and infecting. Here are today’s puzzle and the Bee Buddy, which helps you find remaining words.
And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku.
Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.
P.S. Sapna Maheshwari, who covers TikTok, wants to hear from employees, educators and users about their experiences with the app.
Here’s today’s front page.
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at [email protected].
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