Fifth Islamic Jihad commander killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza Strip

The Israeli military said Ghali and Abu Daqqa helped oversee rocket launches towards the occupied territories over recent days as well as in previous rounds of fighting with Islamic Jihad.

Later on Thursday, Palestinian media outlets reported the death of two more Palestinians in an Israeli airstrike on the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City.

Palestinian medical sources identified the victims as Mohamed Suleiman Dader and Hussein Youssef Abdullah Dalloul.

They were killed as part of an operation that has assassinated 28 people, including at least four women and six children this week.

Gaza-based resistance groups have retaliated with salvos of rockets.

The Israeli military said it has attacked 158 targets in Gaza while at least 523 rockets were launched from the besieged coastal enclave towards the occupied territories this week.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, France and Germany on Thursday called for an end to the violence between Israel and Gaza fighters, who have been trading heavy fire for three days.

“The bloodletting must end now,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said after hosting talks with her counterparts.

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also said the “negative developments must end, peace must be revived."

Safadi said it was urgent to “calm the situation” and to create confidence-building measures that could lead to a political perspective for long-term peace.

The four ministers said later in a joint statement that they were “deeply alarmed” by the escalation.

“We urge an immediate comprehensive ceasefire which will end Israeli military operations in Gaza and indiscriminate rocket firing against Israel,” they said.

The group condemned the “deteriorating security situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel, and on-going developments in Gaza, which has claimed unacceptable civilian casualties, including women and children.”

The four top diplomats also said they would work with all parties to pave the way “for the resumption of a credible political process.”

They underlined that “all causes of tension and triggers of violence must end, including unilateral measures undermining the viability of the [so-called] two-state solution and prospects of a just and lasting peace.”

The group encouraged Israelis and Palestinians to “scrupulously implement” commitments made at talks in Jordan in February and renewed in Egypt in March to prevent more violence between them.

At least 123 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces so far this year, according to Palestinian figures.