Over a dozen Palestinians, including Islamic Jihad leaders, killed in Israeli raid on Gaza

Ministry of Health declared that 12 people were killed in the Gaza Strip, and at least 20 others were injured in the Israeli air attacks.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement announced that three of its leaders were killed in the attacks. The deceased were identified as Jihad al-Ghannam, Khalil al-Bahtini, and Tariq Izz al-Deen.

The three were killed along with their wives and some children, the group said in a statement which did not give details on their wives or how many children were killed and their ages.

Witnesses said an explosion hit the top floor of an apartment building in Gaza City and a house in the southern city of Rafah, the Reuters news agency reported.

The Israeli army announced the air raids, codenamed “Operation Shield and Arrow”, targeted three Palestinian Islamic Jihad members who it claimed were responsible for recent rockets fired towards Israel.

Last week, Israeli missiles pounded the densely-populated Gaza Strip following rockets fired towards the occupied territory in the aftermath of the death in an Israeli prison of well-known Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan.

Adnan, an activist affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, died after nearly three months on hunger strike. Protesting against his arrest without charge, Adnan had refused to eat for 87 days, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society.