Gaza: On Wednesday, as the region around the enclave braced for a response from the armed Palestinian faction, Israel's air force struck Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza for the second day in a row.

A series of explosions rocked various locations, including what witnesses described as a training camp in the northern part of the Gaza Strip and an open area in the south. The military claimed to have hit the group's rocket launch sites.

Medical officials reported that one man was killed and another was injured in the attacks.

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The assaults came a day after the military allegedly carried out a number of airstrikes against senior Islamic Jihad figures responsible for plotting attacks against Israel. A minimum of 10 civilians perished in the strikes as well as three senior commanders

Avi Dichter, a minister in the Israeli security cabinet, told the Kan radio station, "We have no intention of waiting until they launch (rockets). "Deterrence is ultimately created if launches can be stopped or interfered with, if launch crews can be hit."

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Islamic Jihad has promised to respond to the attacks with retaliation, but no rockets have been launched as of yet. In the meantime, a large number of residents in southern Israel's vicinity of Gaza have been evacuated.

The group would unavoidably retaliate, according to Islamic Jihad spokesperson Dawoud Shehab, who described the delay as "tactical."

We see that the response must match the size of the crime, so the resistance chooses the timing of the response in accordance with its tactics and calculations, he said.

In Qabatiya, in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces earlier killed two Palestinians who opened fire on them. The two were identified as members of Islamic Jihad.

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The two Palestinians were killed, according to the army, after they fired on the soldiers from a car. According to the report, an assault rifle was found inside the car, but there were no Israeli casualties.

Businesses and schools in Gaza remained closed, and Israel kept its two border crossings with Gaza for goods and people closed. The action would halt the entry of supplies, fuel, humanitarian aid, and patients receiving care in Israeli and West Bank hospitals.