DOHA, Qatar 

Qatar on Friday evening voiced its strong condemnation of Israeli "aggression" against the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry stressed "the need for the international community to act urgently to stop the repeated attacks by the occupation against civilians, especially women and children."

The statement reiterated Qatar's "firm" position on the justice of the Palestinian cause, the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and the establishment of their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Earlier Friday, the Israeli army said that it began launching raids targeting members of the Islamic Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip.

Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab announced that "Israel had assassinated Tayseer al-Jabari, a prominent leader in the armed wing of the movement, Saraya al-Quds."

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, the Israeli raids killed 10 Palestinians, including a 5-year-old girl.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi in Ankara contributed to this report