Gaza death toll climbs as Israeli airstrike kills second top Islamic Jihad commander

An Israeli airstrike killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a crowded Gaza refugee camp on Saturday, as the number of Palestinians to be killed since Israel launched its high-stakes military offensive reaches 31, with women and children among the dead.

It was the second such targeted attack and the Iran-backed militant group fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in response, as the cross-border conflict escalates.

The killing of Khaled Mansour, who led the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad’s operations in the southern Gaza Strip, late on Saturday came a day after another Israeli strike killed the militant’s commander in the north.