Gaza-Israel violence flares into second day with rocket attacks and air strikes

Gaza/Jerusalem: Gaza militants fired more than 250 rockets into Israeli towns and villages through Saturday, while Israel hit back with tank shelling and air strikes that Palestinian officials said killed four people.

Cross-border hostilities which broke out on Friday flared into a second day, with Palestinians fleeing Israeli strikes in Gaza and air-raid sirens sending Israelis running to shelters as interceptor missiles blew up rockets in the sky.

The escalation, which comes just ahead of both the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Israel’s Independence Day holiday, prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene security chiefs.

Egyptian mediators, credited with brokering ceasefires in previous rounds of violence, were working to prevent further hostilities.

The latest round of violence began when a Palestinian Islamic Jihad sniper fired at Israeli troops, wounding two soldiers, according to the Israeli military.

Israel retaliated with an air strike that killed two militants from the armed Islamist group Hamas, which controls Gaza. Two other Palestinians protesting near the frontier were killed by Israeli forces on the same day, Palestinian officials said.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad began firing waves of rockets into Israel early on Saturday. The Israeli military said its tanks and aircraft responded with strikes against more than 120 militant targets belonging to both groups.

Explosions shook Gaza City, where busy streets were packed with shoppers preparing for Ramadan.

Read the article by Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell in The Sydney Morning Herald.