The Palestinian enclave's health ministry said on Saturday that at least 24 people had been killed and 203 others suffered injuries as a result of the airstrikes targeting the Gaza Strip under Israel's operation Breaking Dawn launched against Islamic Jihad.
"An IDF examination regarding the event in Jabaliya concluded that it was the result of a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket. Intended to target innocent Israelis, it ended up with the death of innocent Palestinians," the IDF said in a Saturday statement.
According to Israeli media reports, an explosion occurred at the Jabalia refugee camp on Saturday, killing at least four children.
"Based on all the IDF systems data, it appears that this event is the outcome of an Islamic Jihad rocket misfire. We did not conduct any activities in Jabaliya at the time of the event," the IDF emphasized on Saturday.
According to the IDF, over 400 rockets have been launched by Islamic Jihad in the past two days, while around 90 rockets fell short in the Gaza Strip since Friday.
Khaled al-Batsh, head of Islamic Jihad’s politburo told journalists on Saturday that Islamic Jihad has no other choice than to defend itself and the Palestinian people from Israel, which bears responsibility for the current escalation. Al-Batsh said that the international community, Qatar and Egypt, are taking mediation efforts to stop Israeli strikes against Gaza.
On Friday, the IDF launched an operation dubbed Breaking Dawn against Palestinian movement Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip. Ziyad Nakhalah, the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has threatened to retaliate by launching a missile attack on Tel Aviv. Israel has since been repelling missile attacks and launching new attacks on the Gaza Strip.
The IDF press office told Sputnik that the Israeli forces are preparing for the Breaking Dawn operation in the Gaza Strip to continue for one week.