The Israeli Defense Forces have announced that Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket force commander Ali Ghali was killed on Wednesday during a strike in Khan Yunis, Gaza.
? OPERATIONAL UPDATE: We just targeted Ali Ghali, the commander of Islamic Jihad’s Rocket Launching Force, as well as two other Islamic Jihad operatives in Gaza.
Ghali was a central figure in IJ, as well as responsible for the recent rocket barrages launched against Israel. pic.twitter.com/GToj67UjTT
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 11, 2023
The PIJ’s Al-Quds Brigades confirmed his death, releasing a statement that read “We mourn the martyr, the Mujahid Commander/ Ali Hassan Ghali, “Abu Muhammad,” – a member of the Military Council, and the official in charge of the missile unit in the Al-Quds Brigades, who rose in a treacherous Zionist assassination operation at dawn today in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, accompanied by a number of righteous martyrs.”
PIJ rocket force deputy commander Ahmed Abu-Deka was also killed in a later strike, according to the IDF.
The deaths of Ghali and Abu-Deka mark the third and fourth PIJ leadership to be killed during “Operation Shield and Arrow,” which was launched to target PIJ positions following tit for tat clashes last week. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, 29 people have been killed, including 10 civilians, and another 90 have been wounded, since the start of the operation on Tuesday.
IDF releases footage of Iron Dome interceptions. pic.twitter.com/sDtw8DO4KR
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) May 10, 2023
Meanwhile, PIJ forces have launched over 800 rockets from Gaza towards Israel over the past 36 hours, which has killed one person in Rehovot. The IDF says that most of the rockets either landed in Gaza, open areas of Israel, or were intercepted by the Iron Dome.
