The IDF said Monday it had killed three senior members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in a strike in central Gaza on Saturday, the latest in a series of targeted killings the army says are aimed at operatives working to rebuild the terror group’s military wing.

The IDF identified the three as Muhammad Abu Afash, head of Islamic Jihad’s engineering and specializations array; Farhat Harara, the array’s deputy head; and Abdallah Qadoum, who commanded the group’s anti-tank missile array in northern Gaza.

According to the IDF, the three were involved in restoring Islamic Jihad’s combat capabilities and in planning attacks against Israel.

Israel says its operations target terrorists who breach the fragile ongoing ceasefire agreement by reconstituting armed networks or moving against its troops.

The killings follow a string of similar strikes on Islamic Jihad figures. On June 3, the IDF said it killed Ahmed Abu Mughaysib, described as the head of a rocket-launching cell, in southern Gaza, and said he was involved in planning attacks against Israeli troops and civilians and in facilitating weapons smuggling. In separate strikes, the military said it targeted Hamas operatives it accused of preparing attacks.

The broader US-backed framework has stalled. Hamas has insisted that Palestinian governance be based on national consensus and has rejected disarmament without political and security guarantees, while in May the high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov, said the phased plan was paralyzed over Hamas’s refusal to disarm.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)