spokesman Mark Toner denounced Hamas militants and others in Gaza for a barrage of rocket fired into southern Israel. He said the US supported Israel's right to self-defence. "We support Israel's right to defend itself and we encourage Israel to continue to take every effort to avoid civilian casualties," Toner said. Solidarity attacks from Islamic jihadist groups, which Israel says are operating in Egypt's Sinai peninsula to the south, and from Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Israel believes has thousands of rockets ready to fire over the northern border, can not be ruled out. Dan Harel, a former deputy army chief of staff, said: "It might draw them in. There was a volley of fire this morning from the south. We don't know yet if it came from the Sinai ... Hopefully Hezbollah will keep themselves out of the engagement." Hamas and other militant organisations could deploy longer-range missiles in its arsenals, some of which can reach densely populated cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The IDF claimed multiple air strikes had hit more than 20 underground rocket launchers belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It said it was targeting long-range rockets, such as the Fajr-5, which has a range of up to 75km. Jabari, head of Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, died when his car was struck in Gaza City by a missile following almost a week of rocket fire from Gaza. Palestinian reports said 10 people died in airstrikes, including two children. Sami Abu Salem, a