A fresh volley of rockets from Gaza have hit Israel amid some of the most intense cross-border fighting in weeks.
Israel says 11 rockets landed, one of which fell next to a house in Netivot. Several people were treated for shock.
Earlier, six Palestinians, including two militants, were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, following an attack by militants on an army jeep.
Israel’s prime minister has warned he is prepared to “escalate [its] actions” if the rocket-fire continues.
“The world must realise that Israel won’t sit by idly in the face of attempts to attack us. We are prepared to escalate our actions,” Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, urged both sides to “refrain from exacerbating the situation” during a visit to Egypt on Monday. Cairo is reported to have been trying to arrange a ceasefire.
The latest flare-up of violence began on Saturday evening, when Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli patrol on the Israeli side of the border fence, wounding four soldiers.
The Israeli army responded by shelling sites in Gaza, killing six Palestinians, including four civilians.
Since then, more than 100 missiles have been fired into Israel, and the Israeli military has carried out a series of air strikes, officials say.
On Sunday night, the Israeli Air Force targeted what it said were a “terror tunnel and a weapons facility” in northern Gaza, and a rocket-launching site in the south. There were no reports of casualties.
As well as the six people killed in Gaza, dozens of Palestinians and at least eight Israelis have been injured since Saturday.
Militant factions, excluding Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said they fired the latest round of rockets. Israel holds Hamas, which governs Gaza, responsible for all attacks emanating from there.
The latest bout of fighting follows clashes in which a 13-year-old Palestinian youth was killed and an Israeli soldier hurt when militants blew up a tunnel in what they said was revenge for the boy’s death.
This is a copy of the full article provided by BBC
