Israel-Gaza border ignites in most serious fighting since 2014 war

An explosion is seen during an Israeli air strike on Hamas's television station, in Gaza City - REUTERS

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters): Israel launched more air strikes on Gaza on Tuesday as Palestinians kept up rocket fire on Israeli territory, in the worst surge of violence since a 2014 war.

The fighting - that has killed six Palestinians, five of them militants, and a civilian in Israel since Monday -threatened to derail efforts by the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar to broker a long-term truce and head off another major conflict in the impoverished enclave.

Hamas, Gaza’s dominant Islamist movement, and other armed factions launched more than 400 rockets or mortar bombs across the border after carrying out a surprise guided-missile attack on Monday on a bus that wounded an Israeli soldier, the military said.

The salvoes were the fiercest since the 2014 Gaza war between Israel and Gaza militants. Hamas said it was retaliating for a botched Israeli commando raid in Gaza that killed one of its commanders and six other gunmen on Sunday. An Israeli colonel was also killed in that incident.

Sirens rang out in the Israeli port of Ashkelon overnight and in other southern towns into Tuesday morning, sending residents rushing to bomb shelters. Several homes were hit and the military said Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted more than 100 rockets and mortar bombs.

Israel responded with dozens of air strikes against Gaza, hitting buildings overnight that included a Hamas intelligence compound and the studios of Hamas’s Al-Aqsa Television, whose employees had received advance warnings from the military to evacuate.

In aerial attacks on Tuesday, Israel’s military said it struck a rocket-launching squad and fired at several Palestinians infiltrating through Israel’s border fence.

In Gaza, schools, government office and banks were closed on Tuesday. Classes were also cancelled in Israeli towns near the border.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet to discuss Israel’s next moves and the military said it had sent infantry and armoured reinforcements to the Gaza frontier.

A Palestinian official said Egypt and the United Nations had stepped up efforts with Palestinian factions and Israel to end the current round of fighting “and prevent further escalation”.

A statement issued by militant groups in Gaza said Ashdod, a major Israeli port, and Beersheba, the biggest city in southern Israel, would be hit next if Israel didn’t cease fire.

Egypt urged Israel to back down. The United States, whose peace mediation has been stalled since the seven-week war in 2014, condemned Hamas.