Israel kills senior Islamic Jihad leader in renewed strikes on Gaza

Eyad Al Hasani is the sixth member of the militant group's top military council to be killed by Israel this week

Palestinian firefighters try to extinguish a fire inside an apartment hit in an Israeli air strike in Gaza city. AP

Israel's military announced on Friday it had killed a senior member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in a strike on Gaza.

Eyad Al Hasani, the sixth member of Islamic Jihad's top military council to be taken out by Israel this week, and his aide were killed in a strike on an apartment.

Islamic Jihad spurns coexistence with Israel and preaches its destruction.

So far, attempts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group have failed.

Sirens warning of incoming rocket fire sounded in areas close to Jerusalem on Friday for the first time since fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip intensified this week.

Israeli radio and television carried alerts of rockets fired towards the city of Beit Shemesh and areas in the hills outside Jerusalem.

Shortly after the sirens went off, ending a 12-hour lull in the cross-border fighting, Israel's military said it had resumed striking Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian health authorities said on Friday that the death toll in Gaza had risen to 31 since the fighting began, with children among those killed.

On Thursday, Israel announced the death of one person in a city near Tel Aviv after a rocket launched from Gaza hit a four-storey building. Five other people were wounded, an Israeli emergency official said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told the military to prepare for new operations as well as more rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

The violence began on Tuesday, when Israel killed three Islamic Jihad leaders in strikes on Gaza.

The Israeli military said it has hit 254 Islamic Jihad targets this week, while 937 rockets have been fired from Gaza.

Israel's military cancelled a performance by American boy band Backstreet Boys due to take place on Saturday night in the Israeli city of Rishon Lezion.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli singer Hanan Ben Ari announced he was cancelling a Sunday concert in the city of Sderot.

On Thursday, largely right-wing and far-right Israelis will march through the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City to celebrate the so-called Flag March, an event that has been a flashpoint for tension in recent years.

The rally falls on Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s victory in the 1967 war.

Top ministers of Israel's current religious nationalist government rule out any state sought by Palestinians in territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

In 2021, militant group Hamas launched rockets into Israel as the march unfolded, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch the 11-day Guardian of the Walls operation in Gaza, which killed 261 people, including 67 children, and injured more than 2,200.