Early Tuesday morning, Israel conducted an air raid on a residence where the high-ranking leader of the armed and Iran-backed Islamist group Islamic Jihad Baha Abu al-Ata lived.

The leader was killed along with his wife, which was proclaimed from mosques in the city of Gaza.

The battles the worst in months

The fighting that followed was the worst that took place at the Gaza Strip in several months. The Israeli airstrikes were responded to by rocket fire from Palestinian territory to Israeli territory, which reached as far as the area around the big city of Tel Aviv. At least 25 people should have suffered minor injuries.

Israel responded with additional airstrikes in which eight people died and 42 were injured, the Israeli daily Haaretz writes.

"A ticking bomb"

While bombs exploded and sounded across Gaza, a funeral was held for Baha Abu al-Ata, where Islamic Jihad's supreme leader, Khaled al-Batsh, spoke.

"Israel carried out two coordinated attacks, in Syria and Gaza, in a declaration of war," he said, according to Reuters.

According to Israel, Baha Abu al-Ata was involved in much of the recent rocket fire and drone attacks from Gaza, and he is also accused of planning further attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describes him as "a ticking bomb".