Israel was preparing for several days of fighting after over 160 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into the Jewish state Tuesday following the targeted assassination of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Leader Bahaa Abu Al-Ata in a precision Israeli airstrike.

As of 2:30  p.m. Israel time, the IDF was reporting more than 160 rocket launches and over 50 interceptions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after a security cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv: "Terrorists think they can hit civilians and hide behind civilians. We showed that we can hit the terrorist with minimal damage to civilians. Anyone who thinks they can hit our civilians and get away with it is wrong. If you hit us we will hit you."

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said that Al-Ata was the person who tried to undermine Israel's efforts to reach a ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "In recent days he was working to perpetrate attacks against Israel," he said. "We tried to thwart his efforts in different ways without success and we then recommended a targeted killing."

Kochavi added: "We are not interested in an escalation but we are ready - on the ground, in the air and at sea."

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat condemned as a "crime" the assassination of al-Ata.

Erekat, in a statement published by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa, said that the Israeli government bears "full responsibility for the results of this crime."‭‮

At least 50 rockets were fired towards Israel on Tuesday morning after the IDF confirmed that it had killed al-Ata in Gaza in a “surgical airstrike.”

An hour after the strike, sirens were activated in numerous communities bordering the Gaza Strip as well as the cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod and Gedera. At least two rockets impacted in the city of Sderot, causing one light injury and damaging a home.

Incoming rocket sirens were also activated in the central Israeli cities of Rishon Lezion and Holon.

Several Israelis were injured, including an eight-year-old girl who collapsed while running for shelter in Holon. She was evacuated to Wolfson hospital in serious condition.

IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman confirmed Tuesday morning that the military had received specific intelligence on al-Ata's location and targeted the specific room where he was sleeping, leaving the rest of the building untouched in order to avoid civilian casualties.

Zilberman stressed that while the operation to kill Al-Ata was approved by the IDF chief of staff, the head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Netanyahu and the security cabinet, the IDF was not returning to a policy of targeted killings.

“Over the past few months the IDF warned several times, and in various ways, that he should stop his activities,” Zilberman said. “The Chief of Staff decided on this operation because there was no other way.”

The IDF reinforced its troop deployment near Gaza and said it was prepared for multiple developments. Bomb shelters in Ashkelon were opened and school was canceled for children in the area due to the expected heavy rocket fire. Ashdod declared a state of emergency and the city said it is opening public shelters.

The operation against Al-Ata was approved by the security cabinet led by Netanyahu, who also serves as Israel’s defense minister. It was done after consultations with the IDF top brass in a joint operation with the Shin Bet.

Islamic Jihad confirmed that al-Ata was killed. The group said that one missile hit his house, killing him and his wife instantly. Two of his children were seriously wounded and rushed to hospital, the terrorist group added.

The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health confirmed that two Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attack early Tuesday.

Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziad al Nakhaleh, based in Lebanon, said in response to the assassination that Netanyahu has "crossed all redlines."

"We are going to war," Nakhaleh said.‭‮

The PIJ's Al-Quds Brigade declared that the terrorist group was on the highest level of alert after the assassination.

The Hamas terrorist movement warned as well that the assassination "will not go unpunished."

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement that "the blood of our people and leaders is a redline and precious to all Palestinians." The killing of al-Ata, he said, is a "dangerous escalation and a continuation of the aggression and crimes against our people and its resistance."

Barhoum accused the Israeli government of seeking to "export its internal crises and impose new equations." Israel, he added, "must pay the price and bear responsibility for the consequences" of the targeted killing.‭‮

Al-Quds Brigades, said in a statement that al-Ata, commander of the northern Gaza Strip, was “martyred while performing heroic jihad [holy war] to thwart conspiracies and defend the land.”

The group vowed to continue in the footsteps of its slain commander in order to “complete the process of liberation of the entire beloved Palestine. Our response will inevitably shock the Zionist entity.”

The military says that it expects a strong response from the PIJ following the strike, including rocket fire towards central Israel, and has urged residents of southern Israel to stay close to bomb shelters.

"The military says that it expects a strong response from the PIJ following the strike, including rocket fire towards central Israel and has urged residents of southern Israel to stay close to bomb shelters." Read more at JPost