Jerusalem: A baby and her pregnant mother were among three Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza overnight, officials said, as the Jewish state struck a series of targets in response to dozens of rockets fired at its territory.

Enas Khammash, 23, and her 18-month daughter Bayan were killed in an airstrike in Jafarawi in central Gaza, the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled strip said, while her husband was injured. The ministry said Enas was also pregnant.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the incident, but said it had struck around 100 "military targets" belonging to Hamas in the strip. "The Israeli strike was conducted in response to the rockets launched from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory over the course of the evening and night," it said in a statement.

It said the targets "included manufacturing facilities, training complexes and advanced weapons and capability sites" belonging to Hamas.

Smoke plumes could be seen rising from Gaza City Wednesday evening.

A Hamas militant was killed in one strike, with at least 12 others injured, the health ministry in Gaza said.

The strikes came after dozens of rockets were launched from the coastal enclave towards Israel late Wednesday.

The country's Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted 11 of the roughly 70 launches, the army said, while most of the others landed in open areas.

At least two hit the Israeli town of Sderot, near Gaza's northern border, police and the army said.

One person was lightly wounded by shrapnel while several others were treated for shock in Sderot, the United Hatzalah medical service said.

A statement from the military wing of Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza, claimed responsibility for the rockets. It said the Palestinian "resistance" had fired a large number of rockets at "enemy positions in the Gaza envelope".

Sirens were sounded in several Israeli areas close to the border with Gaza, warning residents to seek immediate shelter, the Israeli army said.

"As of now, approximately 70 rocket launches were identified from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory," the army said in a statement.

Israeli television broadcast images of a house and cars reportedly damaged by the rockets in Sderot.

The United Nations (UN) condemned the Hamas rocket fire. "I am deeply alarmed by the recent escalation of violence between Gaza and Israel, and particularly by today's multiple rockets fired towards communities in southern Israel," UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement.

He called on all sides to step "back from the brink". The rocket fire came after two fighters from the military wing of Hamas were killed by Israeli fire on Tuesday. Hamas warned Israel — with which it has fought three wars since 2008 — it would pay for the attack.

The escalation comes after the Hamas leadership convened for a rare meeting in Gaza on Friday.

The gathering had raised hopes for a lasting truce with Israel, with the backing of Egypt and the UN.

Clashes along the Gaza border since the end of March have seen at least 165 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire.

The majority were killed during violent protests, but others have died in airstrikes or tank fire. One Israeli soldier has been shot dead by a Palestinian sniper.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008. The last war in 2014 ended with a tense ceasefire and analysts say another round of conflict remains likely. </s> Jerusalem (CNN) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "massive attacks against terrorist elements" in Gaza will continue after militants in the coastal enclave fired approximately 430 rockets towards Israel.

Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, Netanyahu said: "Hamas bears the responsibility not only for its own attacks and actions but also for the actions of Islamic Jihad, and it is paying a very heavy price for this."

Israel has so far responded with airstrikes on more than 200 targets across Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

One Israeli was killed by a rocket that landed in the city of Ashkelon just north of Gaza, a Barzilai hospital statement said, and two Palestinian militants were killed in the airstrikes, according to Gaza health officials.

The IDF denied killing a one-year old baby and the baby's pregnant mother in Gaza, and said the deaths were caused by a Hamas rocket that misfired.

A 58-year-old man was killed when a rocket hit his house in Ashkelon, according to a statement from Barzilai hospital. He is the first Israeli to be killed by rocket fire since the end of the 2014 war.

Two gunmen from the armed wing of Islamic Jihad were killed overnight in Gaza, according to a statement from the militant group. Two other Palestinian men died in earlier airstrikes on Saturday.

The UN said it is working with Egypt to try to restore a ceasefire and says both sides are putting at risk efforts to relieve the suffering of people in Gaza.

The escalation began Saturday morning with about 50 rockets fired towards Israel within the course of an hour and continued late into the evening.

The IDF said its Iron Dome aerial defense system had intercepted dozens of the incoming rockets.

In response to the rockets, the IDF said it carried out airstrikes on about 200 militant targets in Gaza, including a tunnel, rocket launcher sites and other military compounds used by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ.) The military also struck a mosque in al-Shati in northern Gaza, which the IDF said was used a command and control center by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Turkey has condemned a strike on a building housing the office of its state-run Anadolu news agency, a building which Israel says is also used by Hamas's military intelligence.

A spokesman for Turkey's President said: "We urge all governments that claim to defend press freedom, including @USEmbassyTurkey to join us in condemning the Israeli government."

Israel announced that it is closing the two border crossings between Israel and Gaza, as well as closing the Gaza fishing zone.

The fishing zone was restricted to 6 nautical miles earlier this week following a rocket fired from Gaza that landed off the coast of Israel.

There was no specific date for when the crossings and the fishing zone would reopen.

Saturday's rocket barrage came less than a day after two militants from Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, were killed in an Israeli strike on Hamas posts in Gaza.

Israel launched airstrikes Friday after two Israeli soldiers were wounded by sniper fire along the Gaza border.

Two other Palestinians died in Gaza Friday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, with both men succumbing to their wounds after being shot by Israeli troops during protests along the Gaza fence, according to health officials.

In the run-up to that election, Egypt succeeded in mediating an agreement between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, following an exchange of rockets and airstrikes in March.

The agreement, though never publicly acknowledged by Israel, included measures aimed at loosening the restrictions imposed on Gaza's 2 million inhabitants.

Recent pronouncements by Hamas officials have suggested growing frustration that Israel has not moved fast enough to fulfill its pledges, including allowing the transfer of millions of dollars of extra funding from Qatar.

The upturn in violence comes as Israel is preparing to mark Independence Day next week and host the Eurovision Song Contest the following week.

On Saturday evening, the UN's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, announcing renewed efforts with Egypt to restore calm, called on all parties to immediately de-escalate or risk a conflict with "grave consequences for all." </s> Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip and three people were reported killed there, while Palestinian militants from the territory fired scores of rockets into Israel in a fierce burst of violence overnight and into Thursday morning.

The flare-up comes as Egypt is trying to broker a long-term cease-fire between the two sides. At least three Palestinians died — a pregnant woman, her 1-year-old daughter and a Hamas militant, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

On the Israeli side, at least seven people were wounded.

It was not clear if the escalation, the latest in a series of intense exchanges of fire in recent months, would derail the indirect negotiations between Israel and Gaza's Hamas militant rulers.

Air raid sirens signaling incoming rocket fire continued in southern Israel on Thursday morning, raising the likelihood of further Israeli reprisals.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007. Despite the animosity, the bitter enemies appear to be working through Egyptian mediators to avoid another war.

Hamas is demanding the lifting of an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade that has devastated Gaza's economy, while Israel wants an end to rocket fire, as well as recent border protests and launches of incendiary balloons, and the return of the remains of two dead soldiers and two live Israelis believed to be held by Hamas.

But the continued outbursts of fire have jeopardized those cease-fire efforts. On Tuesday, the Israeli military struck a Hamas military post in Gaza after it said militants fired on Israeli troops on the border. Hamas said two of its fighters were killed after taking part in a gunfire parade inside a militant camp.

The incident occurred while a group of senior Hamas leaders from abroad were visiting Gaza to discuss the ceases-fire efforts with local leaders.

A top Hamas official told The Associated Press that the group waited for the delegation to leave Gaza before responding with rocket fire late Wednesday.

The Israeli military said over 150 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, and Israel carried out over 140 airstrikes targeting Hamas militant positions.

Gaza's Health Ministry identified those killed in the airstrikes from Wednesday to Thursday as Hamas fighter Ali Ghandour, 23-year-old Enas Khamash and her daughter Bayan. The ministry said the militant and the civilians were killed in separate incidents.

In southern Israel, two Thai laborers were among the seven wounded by rocket fire, and rockets damaged buildings in the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon. The military said it intercepted some 25 rockets, while most of the others landed in open areas. Israel said it launched airstrikes targeting rocket launchers, weapons stockpiles, tunnels and other Hamas infrastructure.

Israeli Cabinet minister for construction and housing, Yoav Galant, said that "whatever is needed to be done to defend our civilians and soldiers, will be done, no matter what would be the price in Gaza."

Conricus wouldn't comment on Israeli media reports of troops preparing for a possible ground operation, but said Israel "had ground troops that are ready to deploy. We are reinforcing the southern command and Gaza division."

On Wednesday, the Israeli military shelled the Palestinian territory after civilians working on the Gaza border fence came under fire. Hamas militants responded with a cross-border fusillade that sent Israelis scrambling for air raid shelters.

The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing classified negotiations, said that cease-fire talks were in their final stage but that disagreements remained. He said Hamas is demanding the complete lifting of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, while Israel has offered only to ease the restrictions.

Tension along the Israel-Gaza border has escalated since late March, when Hamas launched what would become regular mass protests along Israel's perimeter fence with Gaza. The protests have been aimed in part at trying to break the blockade.

Over the past four months, 163 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including at least 120 protesters, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and a local rights group. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Gaza sniper during this period.

Israel says it has been defending its sovereign border against infiltration attempts by Hamas. But it has come under heavy international criticism for its frequent use of force against unarmed protesters. </s> JERUSALEM -- Gaza militants on Sunday intensified a wave of rocket fire into southern Israel, striking towns and cities and killing at least three people in one of the bloodiest rounds of fighting since the 2014 war. At least nine Palestinians, including a pregnant woman and her 14-month-old niece, have also been killed.

Israeli forces struck dozens of targets throughout Gaza, including militant sites that the military said were concealed in homes or residential areas. The army also moved armoured units toward Gaza as the sides headed closer to all-out war.

Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies that have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007, as well as numerous smaller flare-ups, most recently in late March.

These flare-ups have become increasingly frequent in recent years, ending in informal Egyptian-mediated truces in which Israel pledges to ease a crippling blockade on Gaza imposed after the Hamas takeover while the militants promise to halt rocket fire.

As with previous rounds of fighting, the latest violence began late last week amid Palestinian accusations that Israel was not moving quickly enough to ease the blockade.

In Sunday's fighting, Moshe Agadi, a 58-year-old Israeli father of four, was struck in the chest by shrapnel in a residential courtyard. The Barzilai Medical Center said a 49-year-old man was killed when a rocket hit an Ashkelon factory, while a second man was killed when his vehicle was hit by a projectile near Yad Mordechai, a small border community.

Later Sunday, Israeli medical officials said a Thai labourer was critically wounded in a rocket strike.

By late afternoon, the Israeli military said militants had fired over 600 rockets into Israel, and that Israeli forces had launched some 260 airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza.

The other dead included a pregnant woman and her niece, who were killed in what the officials said was an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military denied involvement, saying the woman and baby were killed by a misfired Palestinian rocket. There was no way to reconcile the conflicting accounts.

Palestinian officials identified one of the militants as Hamas commander Hamed al-Khoudary, who Israel said was a key player in transferring Iranian money to the militant group.

The sudden outburst has broken a monthlong lull as Egyptian mediators had been trying to negotiate a long-term cease-fire.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israel's strikes hit a variety of "high-quality" militant sites, including commanders' homes in which militant activity was observed.

The military spokesman said Israel was deploying an armoured brigade along the Gaza front, with tanks ready for offensive missions as needed. The Israeli military has already struck rocket launchers, tunnel shafts, training sites, storage depots and warehouses of both the territory's Hamas rulers and the smaller, Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas was paying a "heavy price" for its rocket attacks, as well as those by Islamic Jihad.

Sirens wailed along the border region overnight and throughout the day warning of incoming attacks. School was cancelled and roads were closed.

In Gaza, large explosions thundered across the blockaded enclave during the night as plumes of smoke rose into the air.

By morning, bulldozers were clearing rubble and municipal workers were fixing damaged power lines. Owners of clothing stores that were destroyed in Gaza City's relatively upscale Remal neighbourhood squatted across the streets from where their stores had stood, cupping their faces in their hands.

One of the airstrikes hit a six-story commercial and residential building that housed the office of Turkey's official Anadolu news agency.

"We thought the Rimal neighbourhood is safe, but it seems there is no safe place in Gaza," said Nidal al-Dali, who lived in the building and lost his home.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called it a "new example of Israel's unrestrained aggression."

The Israeli military said its Iron Dome defence system intercepted more than 150 of the projectiles from Gaza, but several still managed to slip through. A rocket scored a direct hit on a residential home in the border town of Sderot.

Dr. Ron Lobel, deputy director of the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, said teams had treated over 110 people, most from shock symptoms, but several with physical wounds. In a first, the hospital itself was also hit by debris from a rocket that was intercepted by an Iron Dome missile. There were no injuries, but the debris struck the hospital's oncology unit, bursting a pipe and sending water pouring from a ceiling into the hallway.

Israel has vowed to hit back hard against both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whom it suspects of triggering the current conflagration. But, as in previous rounds where it stopped short of a full-fledged war, the timing for a prolonged round of fighting is tricky for Israel.

The country marks Memorial Day and Independence Day this week. The following week it is set to host the Eurovision song contest, in which large groups of tourists are expected.

For Gazans, the violence comes ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in which the faithful fast from dawn to dusk, which begins Monday.

In recent days, Hamas accused Israel of reneging on its pledges as militants began to fire rockets.

Israel accuses Islamic Jihad of operating behind Hamas' back and instigating the latest round of violence by shooting and wounding two Israeli soldiers on Friday. Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces the same day during weekly protests along the Israel-Gaza perimeter fence.

Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser, said the violence was being instigated by Islamic Jihad at the behest of their backers in Iran. Amidror, currently a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said a new war in Gaza would distract Israel and leave Tehran "free to continue what they are doing in Syria." Iran is allied with President Bashar Assad's forces in the civil war and has been building up a military presence there in recent years, which Israel views as an unacceptable threat.

The resurgence of violence threatens to shatter the shaky understandings recently reached though Egyptian mediators. Palestinian militant leaders were in Cairo trying to reach a new cease-fire.

Hamas hopes Egyptian mediators can further ease the blockade, which has ravaged Gaza's economy. For over a year, Hamas has orchestrated mass demonstrations each week along the Israeli frontier to draw attention to Gaza's plight. More than 200 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed in the border protests. </s> Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip and three people were reported killed there, while Palestinian militants from the territory fired scores of rockets into Israel in a fierce burst of violence overnight and into Thursday morning.

The flare-up comes as Egypt is trying to broker a long-term cease-fire between the two sides. At least three Palestinians died — a pregnant woman, her 1-year-old daughter and a Hamas militant, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

On the Israeli side, at least seven people were wounded.

It was not clear if the escalation, the latest in a series of intense exchanges of fire in recent months, would derail the indirect negotiations between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas militant rulers.

Air raid sirens signaling incoming rocket fire continued in southern Israel on Thursday morning, raising the likelihood of further Israeli reprisals.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007. Despite the animosity, the bitter enemies appear to be working through Egyptian mediators to avoid another war.

Hamas is demanding the lifting of an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade that has devastated Gaza’s economy, while Israel wants an end to rocket fire, as well as recent border protests and launches of incendiary balloons, and the return of the remains of two dead soldiers and two live Israelis believed to be held by Hamas.

But the continued outbursts of fire have jeopardized those cease-fire efforts. On Tuesday, the Israeli military struck a Hamas military post in Gaza after it said militants fired on Israeli troops on the border. Hamas said two of its fighters were killed after taking part in a gunfire parade inside a militant camp.

The incident occurred while a group of senior Hamas leaders from abroad were visiting Gaza to discuss the ceases-fire efforts with local leaders.

A top Hamas official told The Associated Press that the group waited for the delegation to leave Gaza before responding with rocket fire late Wednesday.

The Israeli military said over 150 rockets and mortars were fired at Israel, and Israel carried out over 140 airstrikes targeting Hamas militant positions.

Gaza’s Health Ministry identified those killed in the airstrikes from Wednesday to Thursday as Hamas fighter Ali Ghandour, 23-year-old Enas Khamas and her daughter Bayan. The ministry said the militant and the civilians were killed in separate incidents.

Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus insisted Israel only targeted Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip.

In southern Israel, two Thai laborers were wounded by rocket fire, one severely, and rockets damaged buildings in the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon. The military said it intercepted some 25 rockets, while most of the others landed in open areas. Israel said it launched airstrikes targeting rocket launchers, weapons stockpiles, tunnels and other Hamas infrastructure.

Conricus wouldn’t comment on Israeli media reports of troops preparing for a possible ground operation, but said Israel “had ground troops that are ready to deploy. We are reinforcing the southern command and Gaza division.”

On Wednesday, the Israeli military shelled the Palestinian territory after civilians working on the Gaza border fence came under fire. Hamas militants responded with a cross-border fusillade that sent Israelis scrambling for air raid shelters.

The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing classified negotiations, said that cease-fire talks were in their final stage but that disagreements remained. He said Hamas is demanding the complete lifting of the Israeli-Egyptian blockade, while Israel has offered only to ease the restrictions.

Tensions along the Israel-Gaza border have escalated since late March, when Hamas launched what would become regular mass protests along Israel’s perimeter fence with Gaza. The protests have been aimed in part at trying to break the blockade.

Over the past four months, 163 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, including at least 120 protesters, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and a local rights group. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Gaza sniper during this period.

Israel says it has been defending its sovereign border against infiltration attempts by Hamas. But it has come under heavy international criticism for its frequent use of force against unarmed protesters. </s> Gaza-based Hamas terrorists sent 300 rockets into Israel Monday, bringing about a major Israeli Defense Forces strike in Gaza.

Hamas “has crossed a red line,” said Israeli Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, who said Israel would “continue to respond with an iron fist against all terrorist activity or rocket fire.”

Israel said it intercepted 70 of the rockets.

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The full extent of Israeli casualties was unclear early Tuesday. The Jerusalem Post indicated in a running summary of the attacks and the Israeli response that at least one man was killed and close to 100 were wounded, many from the community of Ashkelon.

Other accounts put the overall total number of injured between 10 and 20.

In what appeared to be a separate attack, a mortar shell hit a bus in which Israel Defense Force personnel had been riding. Six people were injured, including a 19-year-old who was listed in critical condition, Fox News reported.

The latest round of violence was triggered Sunday when a firefight broke out in Gaza between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters.

“The aim of the operation was not to abduct or to kill a Hamas operative,” said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus. He said that once the Israeli force met trouble, it “acted swiftly, professionally, was able to defend itself, exfiltrate in a very professional manner, making sure that all soldiers got back to Israel, that none were left behind.”

Hamas, however, claimed that Israeli undercover troops slipped two miles into Gaza killed and killed Nour el-Deen Baraka, a commander of the group’s military wing. Five Hamas soldiers and one Israeli solder were killed Sunday.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks, which began at sunset local time on Monday.

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In retaliation, Israel hit a wide range of targets, including the Al-Aqsa TV station. The BBC reported that three Palestinians were killed.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the attack on the station an act of “barbaric aggression,” according to The New York Times.

“It contributes to Hamas’ military actions, including by providing operational messaging to militants, directing and explicitly calling for terror activities against Israel, and providing guidance on how to carry out such terror activities,” the IDF said in a statement.

Israeli Cabinet minister Michael Oren said Israel “will do whatever it takes” to defend itself, according to U.S. News and World Report.

“We expect the world to stand with us,” he said.

The EU’s ambassador to Israel, Emanuele Giaufret, begged for an end to “indiscriminate” rocket fire targeting civilians.

“Everyone must step back from the brink,” he said.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called for the world body to condemn Hamas.

“After a day of rocket barrages, there is no room for any other definition of Hamas except that of terrorist organization. To the world it presents its civilians as victims, but then uses them as human shields,” Danon wrote.

“Israel cooperated with all international bodies, including the UN, but the aggressive escalation from Gaza indicates that there are elements pushing for another round of violence that will cause destruction and losses within the Gaza Strip,” he wrote.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards. </s> Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Israeli fighter jets targeted three areas in the Gaza Strip Wednesday -- retaliation for an earlier rocket attack -- amid intense rioting along the border that may lead to more attacks on Hamas.

Officials said the airstrikes killed a 25-year-old man. Earlier Wednesday, a rocket launched from the Gaza Strip hit a home in Beersheba, Israel. No injuries were reported.

"At 4 a.m. Israelis in the city of Beersheba were running to bomb shelters after a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel," The Israel Defense Force said on Twitter. "We will defend Israeli civilians."

There were actually two rockets fired from Gaza, one of which landed in the sea near Tel Aviv. The IDF identified the area where the rockets originated and blamed Hamas.

The rocket attack, the first to hit Beershebain four years, required a weapon with a longer range. Israel has an Iron Dome defense system to intercept incoming missiles and rockets, but officials said one got through.

Hamas denied responsibility, saying it rejects "all irresponsible attempts" to undermine a truce.

The confrontations came amid growing protests by Palestinian refugees who want to return to their homes, which are now under Israeli control. Israel's military has killed more than 200 Palestinians and injured more than 18,000 in clashes during the violent demonstrations. Gaza's Health Ministry estimates 68 Palestinians have had limbs amputated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to escalate to a "different kind of activity."

"If it has any sense, Hamas will cease fire and violent outbursts -- now," he said.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said rioting along the Gaza border was the "straw that broke the camel's back."

"We have exhausted all other options in Gaza," Liberman said. "Now is the time to make decisions. We need to strike a serious blow at Hamas. That is the only way to bring back quiet." </s> Gaza militants fired fresh rocket barrages at Israel early Sunday in a deadly escalation that has seen Israel respond with waves of strikes as a fragile truce again faltered and a further escalation was feared.

Gazan authorities reported four Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the escalation that began Saturday, but Israel disputed their account of the deaths of a pregnant mother and her baby.

One 58-year-old Israeli man was killed by a rocket strike on the city of Ashkelon near the Gaza border, Israeli police and the hospital said.

The latest flare-up came with Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the blockaded Gaza Strip, seeking further concessions from Israel under the ceasefire.

Israel said 430 rockets had been fired from the Palestinian enclave since Saturday and its air defences intercepted many of them.

Beyond the man killed, an 80-year-old woman was seriously injured in a rocket strike on the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, police and medics said.

A man was also hospitalized in Ashkelon, said police, which spoke of other injuries without providing details.

A house near Ashkelon was damaged while other rockets hit open areas.

The Israeli army said its tanks and planes hit some 200 militant targets in Gaza in response.

They included an Islamic Jihad attack tunnel that stretched from southern Gaza into Israeli territory, it said.

Two multi-story buildings in Gaza City were destroyed.

Israel said one of the buildings included Hamas military intelligence and security offices.

Turkey said an office for its state news agency Anadolu was located in the building and strongly denounced the strike.

Israel said the other building housed Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices.

The Gaza health ministry said Israeli strikes killed a 14-month-old baby and her pregnant mother, 37, in addition to two Palestinian men, while 40 were wounded.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on Twitter challenged the account of the mother and her baby being killed in an Israeli strike, suggesting they died from Palestinian fire.

Adraee did not provide more details and the army refused to comment further. Israel's military said it was targeting only military-related sites.

As the exchange of fire continued, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with security chiefs on Saturday but had not commented publicly.

A statement from Hamas ally Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for at least some of the rocket fire and said it was prepared for more.

Its armed wing distributed a video showing militants handling rockets and threatening key Israeli sites, including Ben-Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv.

Israel closed its people and goods crossings with Gaza as well as the zone it allows for fishermen off the enclave until further notice due to the rocket fire.

Egyptian and U.N. officials were engaged in discussions to calm the situation, as they have done repeatedly in the past, while the European Union called for an immediate halt to rocket fire from Gaza.

The U N. envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Nickolay Mladenov, called on "all parties to immediately de-escalate and return to the understandings of the past few months."

The United States condemned the rocket attacks on Israel and said it fully supported its "right to self-defence against these abhorrent attacks."

The escalation follows what had been the most violent clashes along the Gaza border in weeks on Friday.

Four Palestinians, including two Hamas militants, were killed after two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a shooting during weekly protests there.

Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have fought three wars since 2008 and fears remain of a fourth.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas brokered by Egypt and the United Nations had led to relative calm around Israel's April 9 general election.

But the past week saw a gradual uptick in violence.

With the ceasefire at risk, a Hamas delegation led by its Gaza head Yahya Sinwar went to Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials.

The ceasefire has seen Israel allow Qatar to provide millions of dollars in aid to Gaza to pay salaries and to finance fuel purchases to ease a severe electricity shortage.

Several factors may lead Israel to seek to calm the situation.

Netanyahu is engaged in tough negotiations to form a new government following last month's election, while Israel is due to host the Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv from May 14-18.

The country also celebrates its Independence Day on Thursday.

On the Gazan side, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in the week ahead.

Palestinians have participated in regular demonstrations and clashes along the Gaza border for more than a year, calling on Israel to ease its crippling blockade of the enclave.

At least 271 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the protests began in March 2018, the majority along the border.

Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in that period.

Israel accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to carry out attacks and says its actions are necessary to defend the border and stop infiltrations. </s> Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes on targets in Gaza in response to what it called the biggest barrage of rocket and mortar fire from the Strip since the 2014 war there.

The Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, said it launched more than 35 airstrikes targeting the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, after approximately 70 rockets and mortars were fired toward Israeli territory Tuesday morning.

At least 25 incoming projectiles were intercepted by its iron dome air defense system, the IDF said earlier in the day.

Hamas reported early Wednesday that militant groups in Gaza have agreed to a ceasefire if Israel does the same.

In a statement, Khalil Al Hayya, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said that after the intense fighting on Tuesday there had been considerable mediation efforts — an apparent reference to Egyptian-led talks — resulting in “a consensus to return to the ceasefire understandings of the Gaza Strip.”

Referring to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Al Hayya said, “the resistance factions committed (to the ceasefire), as long as the Occupation does the same,” using the militant groups’ term for Israel.

There was no comment from Israel on the latest ceasefire reports, a senior Israeli official told CNN Wednesday morning.

The US has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to “discuss the latest attacks on Israel out of the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other militants,” the US Mission to the UN said in a statement.

The Mission expected the meeting to take place Wednesday afternoon.

“The recent attacks out of Gaza are the largest we have seen since 2014. Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten. The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they’re allowing to happen in Gaza,” US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said, according to the statement.

Israel said three of its soldiers were injured, two lightly and a third moderately, in the militant fire from Gaza. In one of the day’s first barrages, one of the mortars landed in the yard of a kindergarten, which was empty at the time because school had not started.

The IDF said Israeli air force planes had attacked targets in seven locations belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including “six military compounds, munition storage warehouses, naval targets, and terror headquarters.”

There were no reports of any injuries. Other targets according to the IDF included “a rocket manufacturing workshop, advanced naval weaponry, military compounds

Among the targets, the IDF said, were, “sheds of drones used for terror purposes, a rocket manufacturing workshop, advanced naval weaponry, military compounds, training facilities and a munitions manufacturing site.”

There were no reports of any injuries.

A senior Israeli official denied reports a ceasefire deal has been reached between Israel and militant groups in Gaza. Reports in Arab media spoke of a ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt and due to come into force at midnight.

An official from Islamic Jihad told CNN that Egyptian intelligence had asked the militant group to return to the 2014 ceasefire agreement, adding, “We (Islamic Jihad) are committed to it as long as Israel is.”

The 2014 ceasefire agreement is a reference to the agreement reached at the end of the last all-out war between Israel and Hamas.

A second Islamic Jihad official told CNN that “Egyptian efforts reached a ceasefire and a return to the 2014 agreement.” The official told Egypt that militants in Gaza did not want escalation with Israel, but said they had the right to defend themselves if attacks continued.

In a significant move, Israel singled out Islamic Jihad as the militant group that carried out Tuesday’s attacks.

In a statement, the IDF said the action was a “severe, dangerous, and orchestrated act of terror, aimed at Israeli civilians and children.”

Islamic Jihad “follows the ideology of Iran, is funded by Iran, and in today’s attack, used munition made by Iran,” the statement said.

But the IDF statement also repeated Israel’s often-stated position that it continues to hold Hamas — the militant group that controls Gaza — accountable for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip. “Hamas has the ability to escalate or de-escalate the situation,” the statement said.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the attacks.

In a statement issued by the militant groups’ armed wings, the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades respectively, the two groups blamed Israel for starting the latest round of aggression and said they had cooperated in launching the attacks because Israel’s “crimes could not be tolerated in any way.”

The statement said that if Israel continued to attack Gaza then “all resistance options remain open no matter what the cost.”

There have been no reports of any fatalities or injuries arising from Israel’s airstrikes from either the Palestinian Ministry of Health or from the militant groups themselves.

Israel and the United States consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

UN chief Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov expressed his deep concern at what he called “indiscriminate firing” by Gaza militants toward communities in southern Israel.

“Such attacks are unacceptable and undermine the serious efforts by the international community to improve the situation in Gaza. All parties must exercise restraint, avoid escalation and prevent incidents that jeopardize the lives of Palestinians and Israelis,” Mladenov said in a statement.

Also Tuesday, the Israeli navy intercepted a Palestinian boat that set sail from Gaza aiming to breach Israel’s naval blockade of the enclave, the IDF said. The IDF said there were about 17 people on board. It said the boat was apprehended peacefully and had been towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The confrontations came after weeks of Palestinian protests, known as the Great March of Return, near the fence that separates Gaza and Israel, during which more than 100 protesters were killed by Israeli fire.

The protests were intended to highlight Palestinian demands to return to homes and villages they lost during the creation of the state of Israel seven decades ago, and were given a boost by the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14. Israel said the protests were orchestrated by Hamas and presented a security threat to people living nearby.
Over 180 rockets and mortars are launched toward Israel by Hamas militants, injuring seven people. In retaliation, IDF launches an air assault on 150 targets in Gaza, in which three people are killed, including an 18-month-old child.