Rocket strikes from Gaza intensify; four Israelis killed

JERUSALEM — Gaza militants fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel on Sunday, killing at least four Israelis and bringing life to a standstill across the region in the bloodiest fighting since a 2014 war.

As Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes, the Palestinian death toll rose to 23.

The bloodshed marked the first Israeli fatalities from rocket fire since the 2014 war. With Palestinian militants threatening to send rockets deeper into Israel and Israeli reinforcements massing near the Gaza frontier, the fighting showed no signs of slowing down.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent most of the day huddled with his Security Cabinet. Late Sunday, the Cabinet instructed the army to “continue its attacks and to stand by” for further orders. Israel also claimed to have killed a Hamas commander involved in transferring Iranian funds to the group.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since Hamas seized control of Gaza from Western-backed Palestinian forces in 2007.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement late Sunday that the militant group was “not interested in a new war.”

He signaled readiness to “return to the state of calm” if Israel stopped its attacks “and immediately starts implementing understandings about a dignified life.”

In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Israelis have “every right to defend themselves.” He expressed hope that the recent cease-fire could be restored.

President Donald Trump warned the Gaza militants that “these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery.”

Trump tweeted: “We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens.”

The U.N. Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, called for a halt in rocket fire and “a return to the understandings of the past few months.”