Under heavy rocket fire, Israeli reprisals kill 3
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian militants on Saturday fired over 200 rockets into Israel, drawing dozens of retaliatory air strikes on targets across the Gaza Strip in a round of intense fighting that broke a month-long lull between the bitter enemies.
Three Palestinians, including a mother and her baby daughter, were killed, while three Israelis, including an 80-year-old woman, were wounded by rocket fire.
The fighting 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. Heavy fighting could overshadow the Eurovision and potentially deter international travellers from coming in for the festive song contest.
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.
In a familiar scene, air raid sirens wailed across southern Israel throughout the day and into the evening, as barrages of rockets were repeatedly fired. Retaliatory air-strikes caused large explosions to thunder across Gaza as plumes of smoke rose into the air. Outgoing Palestinian rockets left long trails of smoke behind them.