Operation Shield and Arrow, 2023

The clashes between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in May 2023 started on 2 May 2023 when Khader Adnan, a former Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) spokesman, died in an Israeli prison following an 87-day hunger strike protesting his continual administrative detention and PIJ militants fired around 102 rockets towards southern Israel, injuring seven individuals in Sderot. On 9 May 2023, Israel conducted a series of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, called Operation Shield and Arrow (Hebrew: מבצע מגן וחץ) that lasted until 13 May. Israel responded to the rocket attacks on 9 May with the targeted assassination of three leaders of the PIJ movement, an attack that also killed 10 civilians. Subsequently, on the same day, Israel killed two Palestinians in an airstrike against a vehicle in Khan Yunis, and six more in airstrikes on 10 May. In retaliation, militants launched a barrage of rockets into Israel, totaling over 938 as per the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), under the banner of Operation Revenge of the Free (Arabic: عملية ثأر الأحرار). The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) accounted for four of the fatalities on 10 May. On 11 May, Israeli airstrikes killed two more PIJ commanders, and at least 26 in prior raids. The exchange of rockets and airstrikes persisted on 12 May amidst ongoing efforts to broker a ceasefire. On this day, another senior PIJ leader along with his aide were killed, bringing the total death toll to 34 Palestinians (inclusive of one in Israel) and one Israeli. On the following day, Israel and Islamic Jihad agreed to a ceasefire.