i24NEWS Exclusive: IDF drone entered Islamic Jihad leader's home before assassination
Palestinian sources say the Israeli drone confirmed Baha Abu al-Ata precise location minutes before strike
i24NEWS has learned that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) used a drone to confirm that a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander was inside his Gaza home minutes before his assassination.
According to Palestinian sources, the drone entered his apartment to indicate his precise location. A few minutes later, an IDF airstrike was launched on the apartment, killing Baha Abu al-Ata and his wife.
Additionally, the sources said following a barrage of rockets fired toward Israel’s southern city of Sderot over two weeks ago, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was spotted hovering over the home of Abu al-Ata and the homes of three other Islamic Jihad senior figures in the coastal enclave.
Israel's deadly strikes against al-Ata and another senior official based in Damascus early Tuesday resulted in a wave of tit-for-tat rocket salvos and air strikes that have seen over 250 projectiles fired into Israeli territory and 16 Palestinians killed in two days.
Egypt, Ramallah and the UN scrambled late Tuesday to halt the escalation between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
Egyptian officials speaking anonymously were quoted as saying that they were trying to broker a deescalation amid rocket attacks on Israeli targets and retaliatory strikes from the IDF.
Meanwhile on Wednesday morning, the IDF began deploying artillery regiments across the southern Palestinian enclave, with the Golani's Brigade 13 special unit deployed in the area for additional manpower, Hebrew media reported.
Check out our LIVEBLOG for the latest updates on the escalation.