“Israeli-Gaza conflict escalates with rockets and airstrikes: death toll rises”

The second round of cross-border shooting in a week came after Israel struck Tuesday on three Islamic Jihad leaders it said planned attacks on Israelis, after months of escalating violence.

The Israeli army said that it had bombed more than 130 targets, including missile launch sites, and explosions were heard throughout the various parts of the Strip.

Muhammad al-Hindi, head of the political department in the Islamic Jihad Movement, arrives in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, at the invitation of Egypt, in a new attempt to discuss a cease-fire between Israel and the movement.

Egyptian attempts had failed to reach a cease-fire between the two sides on Tuesday night, according to what the media coordinator of Jihad, Muhammad al-Batsh, told the BBC.

The media coordinator of Jihad, Muhammad al-Batsh, told the BBC that al-Hindi would meet the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, Major General Abbas Kamel, in Cairo, which was confirmed by Egyptian sources familiar with the Egyptian mediation.

Israel said more than 400 rockets were fired at it, but a quarter of them landed in Gaza.

Sirens were heard throughout much of the day, with some of the rockets reaching Tel Aviv before being shot down.

The joint command of armed groups in Gaza, which includes Islamic Jihad and Hamas, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

But Israeli military officials said they saw no indications that Hamas, which is believed to have hundreds of rockets in its arsenal, fired any of its own.

An Israeli air strike on an apartment in the Gaza Strip killed a senior Palestinian activist and two others, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.

The pre-dawn Israeli attack hit the top of a residential building in southern Gaza, destroying its facade and killing the three men.

Israel said that the apartment was a hideout for Islamic Jihad activists, adding that among the dead was the commander of the movement’s rocket launching force, Ali Hassan Ghali.

Palestinians said that 7 people were wounded in the raid, as the fighting entered its third day, after Israel resumed assassination operations targeting specific leaders in Gaza, in which 10 civilians, including women and children, have been killed since Tuesday.

There were no reports of Israeli casualties. Despite reports of a brokered cease-fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night that the campaign was “not over,” while Islamic Jihad threatened dark days to come if Israel “escalates its aggression.”

The military wing of the Jihad movement said that the commander of the missile unit, Ali Ghali, was killed in the attack, which took place at dawn on Thursday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that 3 dead and 7 injured had arrived at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis, as a result of the Israeli airstrikes.

A spokesman for the Israeli army said: “We were able to assassinate (Ali Ghali), the commander of the missile force of the Jihad movement in the Gaza Strip, while he was in a building in Khan Yunis, and the attack also resulted in the killing of two other members with him.”

On Wednesday, militants in Gaza fired more than 460 rockets into Israel. The Israeli army said it bombed more than 130 targets for militants in Gaza. This is the most violent escalation in about 9 months.

The Islamic Jihad movement is the second largest armed group in Gaza after Hamas, and has vowed to respond to the killing of its leaders.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the Israeli crackdown was far from over.

“We dealt Islamic Jihad the biggest blow the movement has ever suffered,” he said, referring to the killing of three of the movement’s leaders on Tuesday.

Hours before Netanyahu spoke, Egyptian media reported that Egypt had brokered the ceasefire, but there was no immediate confirmation from either side.

The armed factions in Gaza had warned earlier that “if Israel increases its aggression, black days await it.”

The latest air strikes are the deadliest since three days of fighting broke out between Israel and Islamic Jihad last August, when 49 Palestinians were killed in Gaza.

The Islamic Jihad movement is responsible for several rocket attacks on Israel in recent years.

Tension also remained high in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, after Israel carried out raids.

Two Palestinians were killed in the town of Qabatiya by Israeli forces, who said the two had opened fire on the forces. An Israeli soldier was seriously wounded during a separate exchange of fire with armed Palestinians in Tubas.