At least eight people were killed – including an Islamic Jihad commander and a five-year-old child – and 44 were wounded in a series of israeli aerial strikes on various areas of the Gaza Strip on Friday evening.

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said at least eight people were killed, including the Islamic Jihad commander Taysir al-Jabari and a five-year-old girl. 

At least 44 people were wounded and are being treated at hospitals as a result of the Israeli raids, the ministry added.

Jabari, a commander of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, was killed in an air strike on an apartment in the Palestine Tower in the center of Gaza City, the Islamic Jihad group said in a statement.

Multiple blasts were heard and seen throughout Gaza, while Israeli reconnaissance drones were heard hovering over the besieged territory.

The israeli attack follows days of tension after the arrest of a senior Jihad leader in the occupied West Bank.

“The IDF is currently striking in the Gaza Strip. A special situation has been declared on the israeli home front,” the zionist military said in a statement. It said further details would follow.

Zionist occupation regime has been imposing tight restrictions on the Gaza Strip for the fourth consecutive day, deepening the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.

Earlier on Wednesday, Zionist entity’s prime minister Yair Lapid held a security consultation with zionist officials to discuss the security situation in the south, Lapid’s office said. (ILKHA)