GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian militants fired hundreds of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Wednesday, as Israel continued a series of airstrikes that killed 21 Palestinians, including three senior militants and at least 10 civilians.
A state-run Egyptian TV station announced that Egypt, a frequent mediator between the sides, had cooperated in a ceasefire. But ceasefire efforts appeared to have weakened as fighting intensified late Wednesday, with neither side showing any sign of backing down.
In a prime-time TV address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel had dealt a cruel blow to the militants. But he warned: “This round is not over yet.”
“We say to the terrorists and those who send them. We see you everywhere. You cannot hide, and we will choose the place and time to strike you,” he said, adding that Israel will also decide when calm is restored.
Throughout the day, rocket fire was fired at air-raid sirens across southern and central Israel, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. Residents have been bracing for an attack since Israel launched its first airstrikes on Tuesday.
It was the heaviest fighting between the two sides in months, pushing the region closer to an all-out war. But in signs that both sides are trying to show restraint, Israel has avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targeting only the smaller and more militant Islamic Jihad group. Hamas, meanwhile, appeared to have stayed on the sidelines.
Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since the Islamic militant group took control of Gaza in 2007.
Late Wednesday, Egypt’s Extra News television channel, which has close ties to Egypt’s security agencies, said it had cooperated in a ceasefire. Egyptian intelligence often mediates between Israeli and Palestinian militants.
Israeli officials have confirmed that Egypt is trying to facilitate a ceasefire. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy, they said Israel will assess the situation based on actions on the ground, not declarations.
Islamic Jihad said it would continue firing rockets. Mohamad al-Hindi, an official of the group, said a sticking point in the talks was that the Palestinians wanted an Israeli commitment to stop targeted killing operations, such as those that killed three top Islamic Jihad commanders on Tuesday.
As the rockets roared across the sky, Israeli TV stations showed air defense systems intercepting the rockets above the skies of Tel Aviv. In the nearby suburb of Ramat Gan, people lay on the ground as they hid.
The Israeli military said that for the first time, a rocket intercepted an air-defense system known as David’s Sling. The system, developed with the US, is meant to deter medium-range threats and is part of a multi-layered air defense that also includes the better-known Iron Dome anti-rocket system. Israeli media said a previous attempt to use the system several years ago failed.
In a move that could raise tensions, Israeli police said they would allow a Jewish ultranationalist parade to take place next week. The parade, meant to celebrate Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem and its Jewish holy sites, marches through the heart of the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and often leads to conflict with local Palestinians.
Israeli officials said more than 400 rockets were fired Wednesday night. Most, they said, were intercepted or fell in open areas, but Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said about a quarter misfired and fell inside Gaza. Israeli rescuers said three people were injured running for shelter, and four homes in southern Israel were damaged by rocket strikes.
The army said schools would remain closed and restrictions on large gatherings would remain in place in southern Israel until Friday. Residents were instructed to stay near bomb shelters.
Eden Avramov, a 26-year-old resident of the southern Israeli town of Sderot, described the 24 hours since Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza as terrifying. “We are all traumatized from this work – the waiting, the booms, the alarms.”
Israeli aircraft hit targets in Gaza for the second day in a row, killing at least five Palestinians. Israel’s military said its warplanes targeted dozens of rocket launchers, weapons depots and other targets throughout the enclave. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said four of the dead were militants.
A 10-year-old Palestinian girl named Layan Mdoukh was killed in an explosion at her home in Gaza City in unclear circumstances on Wednesday.
The first Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday that sparked an exchange of fire that killed three senior Islamic Jihad militants and at least 10 civilians – most of them women and children. Israel’s military said its attacks were targeting Islamic Jihad militant infrastructure in the coastal enclave.
Israel said the airstrikes were a response to a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad in response to the death of one of its members from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.
Israel says it is trying to avoid conflict with Hamas, the more powerful militant group that rules Gaza, and is limiting fighting Islamic Jihad.
“Our actions are intended to prevent further escalation,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s chief military spokesman. “Israel is not interested in war.”
In a statement, an umbrella organization of Palestinian factions in Gaza, including Hamas, said the campaign against Israel — which it called “Avenging the Free” — involved firing hundreds of rockets in retaliation for Israel’s killing of three Islamic Jihad commanders as well as several civilians.
“The resistance is ready for all options,” factions said. “If (Israel) continues its aggression and arrogance, dark days await it.”
However, it remained unclear whether Hamas had joined the conflict. If the ruling militant group enters the fray, the risk of an all-out conflict increases.
Israel came under international criticism for Tuesday’s high civilian toll, which included the wives of two of the militant commanders, some of their children and a dentist who lived in one of the targeted buildings along with his wife and son.
In past conflicts, rights groups have accused Israel of committing war crimes due to high civilian casualties. Israel says it is doing everything it can to prevent civilian casualties and hold militant groups accountable because they operate in densely populated areas.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the military said Palestinian gunmen opened fire on troops in the Palestinian town of Qabatiya in the northern West Bank during an army offensive. Troops returned fire, killing the two men, and confiscating their guns, it said.
Islamic Jihad later claimed the two men as its members.
Israel has been conducting almost daily military raids in the occupied West Bank for more than a year to crack down on suspected Palestinian militants, including many from Islamic Jihad.
At least 107 Palestinians, nearly half of them militants, have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, according to an Associated Press tally. At least 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek all three territories for an independent state in the future.
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Ben Zion reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.