Ceasefire in tatters

Pregnant mother, baby die in Israeli response to rocket fire

PALESTINIAN militants on Saturday fired more than 250 rockets into Israel, drawing dozens of retaliatory air strikes on targets across the Gaza Strip in a round of heavy fighting that broke a month-long lull between the enemies.

Six Palestinians, including a pregnant mother and her baby, were killed, while four Israelis were wounded, including an elderly man who was in a critical condition. The fighting, the most intense between the sides in months, came as leaders from Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, and the smaller armed faction Islamic Jihad, were in Cairo for talks with Egyptian mediators aimed at preventing a fraying ceasefire from collapsing altogether.

It also comes at a sensitive time for Israel, which is to mark its Memorial Day and Independence Day holiday this week, before hosting the Eurovision song contest in the middle of the month. Prolonged fighting could overshadow Eurovision and potentially deter international travellers from coming in for the festive event.

For Gazans, the violence continued as they prepare to begin the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. Israel and Hamas, an Islamic group that opposes Israel’s existence, have fought three wars and dozens of smaller flare-ups of violence since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. They engaged in several days of heavy fighting in March before Egypt brokered a truce in which Israel agreed to ease a crippling blockade on Gaza in exchange for a halt in rocket fire. In recent days, Hamas accused Israel of reneging on its pledges as militants began to fire rockets into Israel.

US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said: “The United States strongly condemns the ongoing barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Gaza upon innocent civilians and their communities across Israel.”