Israeli airstrikes kill Islamic Jihad member

Israel’s Air Force killed a Palestinian gunman in Gaza.

The Islamic Jihad member was killed, and five comrades wounded, after midnight Wednesday in airstrikes that Israel said prevented terrorists from firing rockets across the border. The Palestinians said Israeli ground forces also carried out a brief foray over the border, east of Gaza City.

Israel and Islamic Jihad have traded fire recently while Hamas, which controls Gaza, has appeared to prefer staying on the sidelines. The prisoner swap in mid-October under which Israel repatriated captive soldier Gilad Shalit deprived Hamas of what was widely seen as “insurance” against Israeli targeting its leadership in military retaliations.

Hamas, the dominant Palestinians Islamist movement, which in the past has proposed, with heavy conditions, a truce with the Jewish state, is also biding its time as the kindred Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt gathers political power in Cairo.