 a strip. The IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi made the decision late Friday afternoon to launch a proactive move and attack targets of the Palestinian Islamic jihad in the enclave. The military operation, named Breaking Dawn, was an unusual strike from Israel, who is not likely to hit first. Bomb shelters are being prepared across the country, while 25,000 IDF reservists are also being called up to reinforce Israel's defence. At 24 News Correspondent Bianca Zanini breaks down the latest. Israel launched an operation against Palestinian Islamic jihad targets in the Gaza Strip this Friday. The operation, dubbed Breaking Dawn, took out senior Islamic jihad commander Taizir Jabari, as well as other members of the group, after days of tensions across the border. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, there have been several civilian victims. The Islamic jihad has been threatening to attack Israel in response to the arrest of its West Bank leader on Tuesday. For days, Israeli communities near the border have seen lockdowns and road closures due to the threats, and reinforcements have been sent to the border. Earlier Friday, Defence Minister Benny Gantz warned that if the threats didn't stop, Israel would take action. The IDF said six strikes were hit by fighter jets and armed drones in the initial attack. A special situation has been declared up to 80 kilometres from Gaza, an area which extends as far north as Tel Aviv. In a statement, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that the goal of the operation is to eliminate a concrete threat against the citizens of Israel. The IDF is targeting specific targets of the Islamic jihad who vowed retaliation. Hamas, which rules Gaza, quickly announced its support for the group and said it would respond to the Israeli airstrikes. Israel releasing a message in Arabic speaking directly to Hamas and the residents of the Gaza Strip. The residents of Gaza in the last four days, the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamist jihad insisted on carrying out an attack against the state of Israel without caring about the security and civilian consequences for the residents of the Gaza Strip. The responsibility is of Hamas. What does it care more about, the residents of Gaza or uncontrolled organizations? IDF Correspondent Jonathan Regev joins us now live from the Zikim Junction near the Gaza border. Jonathan, there's just been a meeting that is wrapped up at the security headquarters here in Tel Aviv, a security consultation that took place with both Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid. We know the meeting is wrapped up, but nothing likely coming out of it just yet in terms of their reaction. Are we seeing anything new near the border? Has there been more reinforcement there? We know 25,000 reservists are being called up. Yes, exactly. We have not seen a lot of reinforcements coming down in the past few hours, simply because many, many reinforcements have been sent here for the past three days since those roads have been closed on Tuesday. Therefore, the IDF is already with a very strong presence here on the border already. The big question now and basically what will determine how this operation will continue is what will happen from Gaza, how the reaction will come from there. Yes, it's been a little more than four hours since the operation began and it has been pretty much quiet on the Israeli side of the border since. Since we heard reports perhaps of attempted mortar shells, but nothing serious. But no one in Israel leaves under the illusion that this will go on for a long time. There are expectations, assumptions that some kind of response will come from Gaza. What kind of response? That's the big question and who will be the organization behind it. The Islamic jihad will respond one way or another, will Hamas join them. That is a very big question and of course it will determine the course of this operation. Why so? Hamas as an organization much bigger, much stronger than the Islamic jihad. If Israel conducts an operation only against the Islamic jihad, that is one thing. An operation against both of these organizations is another thing. And basically Israel is still trying to understand what kind of response we will see from Gaza. There are constant drones and IEDs and UAVs in the skies over Gaza, trying to detect every squad that is trying to fire rockets towards Israel, trying to thwart them before they're able to fire rockets into Israel. A lot of effort is put into that and yet it is quite clear that some sort of response from the Islamic jihad will come. They cannot go by this, let us go by with no response. What kind of response? How tough will it be and what will be the organizations participating in that response? These are the big questions that will determine how this operation will look from now and days to come. Right Jonathan and just extremely briefly you mentioned that the reservists have already been stationed on the border for the last few days. 25,000 reservists being deployed now. Can you explain a little bit to our viewers exactly what that means? Are they likely to head to the border and what does it mean necessarily to be a reservist at a time like this when tensions are through the roof with the Gaza enclave? It basically means that you leave everything, you leave your family, you leave your job and you go to your military post. This is a time of high tension and the reservists up until the age of 40, usually the military service, unless you are an officer it ends at the age of 21, 22 and yet people can be called to reserve duty up until the age of 40 and even more than that. Most of the people that are called now are mostly called for aerial defense, aerial defense being mostly iron dome, iron dome batteries are deployed all over southern Israel here at the Gaza border in cities a bit further away like Ashdod and Bershiba and also in central Israel in the area of Tel Aviv and even further to the north the aerial defense, the concern is that it will have to be active all the time in the coming days and that is why you need all the personnel possible to man these positions. This is why these people have been called mainly for aerial defense, not so many fighting positions but mostly aerial defense at least for now the assumption is that this operation will not include a ground incursion but these kind of operations as always you know how they begin, you never ever know how they end. Thank you Jonathan and moving now just to our Middle East correspondent Arielle Osooran joins us now from Tel Aviv. Arielle I believe you have an update for us regarding the Palestinian-Islamic jihad. Well, yes, but the currently in Gaza all armed factions are meeting together in the shared operations where we're talking about not just PIJ but also Hamas as well as other factions and this meeting is still going on and we have already heard though that the factions together had promised that there will be a response. Now an IDF official tells me this evening that the PIJ is preparing to fire rockets onto the center of Israel that would obviously include Tel Aviv and other large cities in the area and they're also trying to convince Hamas to take part in their retaliation. Now Jonathan just raised the question whether Hamas will get involved or not so we know that the PIJ is trying to apply pressure on Hamas to get involved in this and their level of involvement will determine how big this round of escalation ends up being and this comes amid the preparation of the IDF that is prepared for any response the official says and of course this comes as they have begun mobilizing reserve forces 25,000 of them. Right Arielle, in between you and Jonathan Regev, our resident, I'd like to say his Bola experts as well we are hearing comments coming out of the Lebanese group. We're also hearing reports that Al-Quds operatives, Iran's Al-Quds operatives were also targeted in the strike. How likely are we to see a broader operation here or is it going to be specifically targeted at the PIJ? Well we need to see how things are developing on the ground. As of now the only targets that the IDF has officially targeted were PIJ targets. They're leaving Hamas out of this which makes it more convenient for Hamas to take a back seat on this if you will. His Bola is constantly involved in communications and doesn't miss an opportunity to voice its response in light of attacks like this. They've done that, the Iranian, the foreign ministry has also condemned as well as the Qataris and so there are a lot of comments coming out. Right, thank you Arielle, Middle East correspondent for Wrapping That Down, we'll be back. Imagine being able to see into the future. What innovations will change the world as we know it? Join us as we meet the people changing our planet and discover the inventions shaping tomorrow. Israel Business Beat, Sundays and Wednesdays, 9.30pm GMT. Welcome to the I-24 News Space. Now more details on a developing story. Breaking news at this hour. When news breaks in the Middle East and around the world, our team of experienced journalists are here around the clock. To keep you up to date with the news of the day. Where it happens, when it happens. Stay tuned and stay informed. Every day on the hour. The heart of the New Middle East beats on I-24 News. We continue on our top story in an unusual strike by Israel. Attacking first the Gaza Strip and breaking that down joins me now in Studio Raphael Yerushalmi, a former senior intelligence officer at the IDF. My first question to you, 25,000 reservists are potentially being called up. This really is quite a large number. Does that mean that we're expecting quite a large response? So first of all it's an impressive number and it should be because it sends a very strong signal to the other side. By now the terrorists have understood how determined the political level is this time. It's quite new in Israel that we are proactive to that extent. That we strike first and that we strike hard. And also that we call so many reservists. We want to send a strong signal, an impressive signal to the enemy by calling these reservists. Now these reservists will be needed because you have to remember that the people on the ground right now from the air force, from the infantry have been on the high alert for four consecutive days. They've been preparing secretly their operation and they've started the operation. So that sooner or later they will have to rest and to be replaced by fresher troops. So we will need these reinforcements. I just want to specify that these 25,000 people are not yet all cold. The political level has given the authorization to raise 25,000 reservists. That doesn't mean they will all come tonight. Some will probably arrive in the next hours. It takes up to 24 hours. It's a very well-oiled machine by the time they receive their convocation to come to the front. There is a head of a group. He will call all the people of his group to make sure that they come to a meeting point. From that meeting point they will go to their units. So that's very well-oiled. It takes a few hours. Now these 25,000 will not arrive tonight. Some will arrive later. Some might also not arrive according to the developments. But in any case, there is such a strong determination this time that we do hope because we've never really tried it that way. That it might discourage the Islamic jihad from continuing. But it might also be the country effect. It might make them be afraid to lose face. That they have to react. They have to at least send a few missiles to say that they fought back. And the Hamas, the question mark of will the Hamas join or not join. It's not such a big question mark because for now the Hamas is not interested in escalation. But eventually it will have to join it. It will have no choice than joining in because it certainly doesn't want the Islamic jihad to cover itself with glory while the Hamas sits aside doing nothing. That's not possible. Plus in any case, they are also to follow the orders coming from Tehran. And Tehran already gave the green light to the Islamic jihad. They gave the green light last week to the Hezbollah to send drones attacking our platforms for natural gas. So there's a lot of green lights there and the Hamas will also get a green light from Tehran. Right. And I want to touch on that a little bit more. I want to bring into the conversation our Middle East correspondent Ariel Osirano joins us from Tel Aviv. Ariel, hearing reports that it's not just the head of the Palestinian Islamic jihad. The commander, Tasair Jabari, but senior officials in the organization were also supposedly taken out. And this also comes amid statements that are going to be delivered a little later by the Israeli Prime Minister and possibly the Defense Minister. Are they likely to bring this up? Targeted. He's the commander of the Lkutz Brigade Northern division in Gaza. But as well, another target was Abu Dallah Qasim, the commander of the Lkutz Brigade and to take guided missiles division in northern Gaza. And points to how Israel was preparing and was following the PIJ steps, how they would expect to retaliate. The southern part of Israel, the communities around the Gaza Strip have been pretty much under siege for the past four days. Out of fear that this will be the PIJ's response to the arrest of a senior official in the West Bank earlier this week. And in fact, the military acknowledged that it had stopped at the beginning of this operation, not only did it kill Jabari, but it also awarded two anti-tank guided missile units that were on their way that were preparing to target Israelis. Now, the assessment in Israel that they were not just target Israeli soldiers, but also Israeli civilians and the closures of streets in the area surrounding Gaza. And so it appears to have been, if we look at how this plan was implemented, large fire force concentration of fire in a short period of time. This could only come in a premeditated operation that was planned or what's called a drawer operation with plans prepared in advance and given these tensions that have been along the Gaza border for the past few days. And also in light of internal Israeli criticism, how could so many people be under siege when not even a single rocket had been fired. And so this appears to have been the response planned all along. And Israel took the preemptive strike before these two anti-tank missiles were able to carry out their attack on Israeli targets. And to that exact point, Arielle, you mentioned that this was supposedly in defense of the residents in the south, but residents are also relatively angry at the moment that they have been under lockdown for four days. Benny Gantz, the defense minister, made a comment where he said that they won't allow terror groups to dictate the agenda for Israeli border towns. But with a preemptive strike like this naming of an operation, is it not likely that this is going to continue for a few more days? How are residents meant to feel? Well, the idea for the acknowledging that this won't be a matter of hours, but a matter of days. I think calls back, you know, rounds of escalation are kind of like the tide. They ebb and they flow throughout the years. Now, most of the operations Israel has conducted in Gaza was against Hamas. But if we trying to see what this is more similar to, I would liken it more to the operation in 2019 that took out Baha Abul Asa. He was actually the predecessor of Taisir Jabari, the commander of PIJ in the northern Gaza Strip. He was seen by Israel as an element that pushed forward a lot of escalatory actions against Israel. A lot of rockets fired at his direction. He was taken out and for a few ensuing days there was a limited operation. The way the military, the Israeli military is framing it now, it's trying to put it in those terms. But again, where this will lead to the extent of the escalation will again be, it will be determined by the involvement of Hamas, whether it will take a back seat on this or will it fire on its own rockets. If it fires rockets of its own, then Israel will retaliate on striking Hamas outpost. Now, in the past, even when there was what's called rogue element rocket fire from Gaza, Israel would respond against Hamas target saying that Hamas is responsible for what's happening in the Gaza Strip. That is not the case that we're seeing today. Today, even though it wasn't Hamas that was firing, Hamas is not, Hamas sites are not being targeted, which allows them to take a back seat on this. And so again, their decision will come out of this faction meeting in Gaza this evening, will give us an indication what we should expect in these coming days. Ariel, stay with us. I want to just bring Raphael Yeroshalmi into the conversation here. Hamas has made a first statement since the Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders killing, saying that they quote, the blood of our people and resistance are not shed in vain. And currently there are live images over the Tel Aviv boardwalk. Are we likely to see an attack, a retaliatory strike in Tel Aviv? It's definitely a possibility and Israel is bracing itself for it. The instructions of the internal front command are very clear. We're talking of a broad line of 80 kilometers from the border of Gaza inside Israel. That is like an alert. 40 kilometers are more in danger from the border of Gaza, meaning to the Palmaim beach, which is a very popular beach. Like tomorrow it should have been full of people. So tomorrow it would be nice for the turtles and they'll have some quiet. 40 kilometers with the iron dome and people being near shelters. The other 40 kilometers to 80, that's like not to have a lot of outdoor gatherings or a large amount of people. Even the chief rabbi of Israel said it's okay to pray at home, not to go to the synagogue. So we're bracing ourselves for it. The biggest ally of the IDF is the Israeli population because the Israelis are not to be not so disciplined. You see them on airplanes or how they drive. But when it comes to a conflict, they would be absolutely disciplined and they are the biggest ally of the IDF because they will follow the instructions. They will go to the shelters. They will land on the next to the cars, including little children, including old people. That is very important psychologically for our troops to know that that at the back people are doing the job too. So this is very important. What is now the unknown is also on the Israeli side because this prime minister Lapid and the chief of staff and Gantz, the minister of defense and the chief of staff, they've changed in one day a lot of parameters that we were used to. This is a very unusual round. So to what extent are they changing those parameters? To what extent the doctrine has changed up at the top in Israeli government until now the preceding governments were seeing the Hamas as not to be pushed too much because they thought it was a good thing to divide and rule. Like it's good that the Palestinians should be divided. The PLO in Ramallah and the Hamas in Gaza, it's a good thing. Right now it's not so sure it's such a good thing with all the attacks, terrorist attacks that have ensued. So is there a very deep change in the policy of Israel or is it just a momentary change because of the public opinion pressure from the south? Let us remind everybody that the citizens of the south of Israel were always ready to take the chances of bigger conflicts. They were always praying, asking the government to go much further, much stronger. They don't care if they have to be in shelters. They don't care if missiles will be thrown at them. They want a real solution to this problem that has been nothing for so, so, so many years. I want to actually talk to you exactly about that before we end the broadcast in just two minutes' time. But there is an unusual difference here. We are looking at pictures coming from the boardwalk in Tel Aviv. People are going about their evening, walking around, coming back from restaurants. This is not the same situation that we are seeing in the south. Does that have something to do with how long it takes to get to a shelter? So, based on what you said, that they are likely looking for a bigger conflict to end once and for all the escalations, unlike the residents of Tel Aviv. Yeah, well, first of all, you have to see that Tel Aviv is a urban area. So, if you are not next to a shelter or you are not at home, you can always go inside a building, in a restaurant. I have witnessed once on the Rothschild in a coffee shop. People were in the coffee shop and there was an alert and everybody went towards the toilets in the kitchen. So, you can also be between two buildings. I mean, you are not in the open. So, it is easier to find a hiding place. Also, of course, psychologically, the instructions of the home front are clear. We are at the 80 km, between 14 and 80 km. So, we feel less threatened. My daughter, for instance, and her grandchildren are tonight in Ashdod. They're going to have their usual Saturday night dinner. There is some kind of anxiety, especially among the children. On the other hand, the Israelis also have this optimism and they believe in their faith that we will prevail. And up till now, thank God, there were very, very few casualties on our side. Rafael, you're a Xiaomi former senior intelligence officer. Thank you so much for your insight. We are going out now in the broadcast, but you can catch us again in an hour's time for the meantime. Catch us on social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter for the latest breaking news.