The Iranian-sponsored terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), one of the Islamist groups behind the recent wave of attacks against Israel, has admitted that a pregnant woman and a 14-month-old baby died as a result of a misfired rocket that landed in Palestinian territory, like reported by thetower.org.
“A leak from the heroes of the [Islamic Jihad’s] Sarayat al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigades) on the circumstances of the death of the baby Saba Abu ‘Arar indicates that a rocket of the resistance exploded inside the family’s home due to a technical failure, and prematurely exploded,” a Hamas-affiliated news outlet reported.
The report specified that “the technical failure was caused by low-grade explosives in the rocket,” and said, “There is no doubt that the baby’s death has nothing to do with the enemy’s [Israel’s] planes.” Hamas later deleted the message posted on the encrypted social media platform, Telegram.
The pregnant woman and the baby died last Saturday night, and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry immediately blamed Israel for their deaths. Israel categorically denied the claim and said both were killed by a dysfunctional rocket fired by one of the Gaza-based terrorist groups.
Members of PIJ reportedly met with the family of the victims on Sunday morning to offer them financial rewards and to qualify the baby as a “martyr” in exchange for their silence on the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
It was also reported that most Palestinians killed in the latest round of violence were members of Islamist terrorist organizations. At least eight of the Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since Friday were members of the Al-Quds Brigades, a military arm of PIJ.
The Al-Quds Brigades confirmed the identity of their fighters on its website. Three other terrorists killed were claimed by Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. The IDF also killed a Hamas field commander, Hamed Hamdan al-Khodari, in a targeted strike.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry claimed that 29 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes. An IDF spokesperson could not immediately verify those numbers.
