Islamic Jihad launches rockets at Israel in response to Gaza hospital strikes

Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, announced on Tuesday that it had launched rocket attacks on Israeli cities in response to airstrikes on the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip.

"We attacked Ashdod, Ashkelon, Sderot and Israeli settlements adjacent to Gaza with rocket barrages in response to the Israeli massacres against our Palestinian people," al-Quds Brigades said in a press statement.

A source in the movement said the attack aimed to demonstrate "the resistance's ability to respond decisively to Israeli attacks."

Israeli media outlets reported that sirens sounded in several cities and towns in southern Israel, including Ashdod, Ashkelon and Sderot.

Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military spokesperson, said in a statement that two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were intercepted, while a third landed in an open area, without causing casualties or significant material damage.

Following the rocket attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday night ordered residents of the Jabalia city and refugee camp, and other surrounding neighborhoods in the central Gaza Strip, to immediately evacuate ahead of an Israeli strike.

The residents were instructed to relocate immediately to the shelter centers in Gaza City.

The rocket attack came hours after intensive Israeli airstrikes targeted the vicinity of the Gaza European Hospital, which Palestinian sources said resulted in widespread destruction and heavy human losses.

At least six Palestinians were killed and 40 others injured in the Israeli airstrikes, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the IDF, the strike was aimed at an underground Hamas command and control center. The military accused Hamas of continuing to use hospitals in Gaza to conceal militant infrastructure.

Israeli state broadcaster Kan and other media outlets reported that the strike targeted Hamas figure Mohammed Sinwar, the younger brother of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces in southern Gaza in October last year. It remained unclear whether Mohammed Sinwar was among the casualties.

China urges international action to end Gaza crisis

China on Tuesday called on the international community to take urgent actions to end the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza.

"Gaza has become a living hell. Israel's continuous bombing and raids are causing civilian casualties every day," said Fu Cong, China's permanent representative to the UN, at the UN Security Council briefing.

Noting that nearly half a million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic levels of hunger, Fu urged Israel to uphold international humanitarian law and lift the blockade to allow unhindered access to food, medicine and other critical supplies.

Fu also called for the protection of humanitarian workers and accountability for their deaths, pointing out that more than 400 aid workers have been killed in the conflict and stressing the need to safeguard humanitarian agencies.

"China urges Israel to immediately cease its military attacks on Gaza," Fu said, noting that military action cannot resolve the conflict and only prolongs the humanitarian crisis.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: A bus sits inside a crater following an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, May 13, 2025. /VCG)