UPDATE 2 - Israeli raids killed 21 in Gaza since Tuesday

UPDATES NUMBER OF MARTYRS, INJURED

JERUSALEM (AA) – At least 21 Palestinians have been martyred by the Israeli army in two days of escalation in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

The ministry added that 69 others were injured by Israeli raids on the blockaded strip.

On Wednesday morning, the Al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, said that one of its field commanders had been killed in an Israeli raid.

Earlier, the Israeli army said its air force attacked an Islamic Jihad squad trying to fire rockets at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Israeli army said that over 250 rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Israel since Tuesday morning.

In the meantime, red sirens were heard in the southern Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Sderot.

The situation escalated in Gaza early Tuesday after an Israeli airstrike killed Bahaa Abu al-Atta, the commander of resistance group Islamic Jihad, as well as his wife Asmaa Abu al-Atta.

Israeli warplanes also launched an airstrike targeting Islamic Jihad member Akram al-Ajouri in Syria’s capital Damascus.

Two people, including al-Ajouri's son, were killed and 10 injured, but the Islamic Jihad leader emerged unhurt.