New Israeli airstrikes kill 3 in Gaza
Israeli airstrikes killed two Palestinian militants
and a schoolboyin the Gaza Strip on Monday and Palestinian rocket squads barraged southern Israel, in escalating fighting that has defied international truce efforts.The cross-border violence, touched off by Israel’s killing of a top militant leader on Friday, has been the worst exchange of fire between Israel and the Hamas-ruled territory in months.
The fighting so far has killed 21 Gazans, including 18 militants, seriously wounded two Israelis, and disrupted the lives of 1 million Israelis living within the range of Gaza rockets.
The Israeli military said it carried out nine air attacks against rocket-launching sites and a weapons storage facility early Monday. Islamic Jihad said two of its militants were killed in two separate raids, one while he was riding a motorcycle. A 16-year-old boy wearing a school uniform was killed when a group of five civilians was struck in another attack, Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmia said.