By John Ikani
The death toll from violence in Gaza had risen to 24 on Sunday, including six children, as Israel pressed on with its bombardment of Palestinian militants who have retaliated with barrages of rockets.
Gaza’s health ministry said 24 people had been killed so far in the coastal strip, including six children in addition to 204 people injured.
But Israel said it had “irrefutable” evidence that a stray rocket from Islamic Jihad militants had been responsible for the death of multiple children in Jabalia, northern Gaza, on Saturday.
The fighting began with Israel’s killing of a senior commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group in a wave of strikes Friday that Israel said were meant to prevent an imminent attack.
So far, Hamas, the larger militant group that rules Gaza, appeared to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, keeping its intensity somewhat contained.
Whether Hamas continues to stay out of the fight likely depends in part on how much punishment Israel inflicts in Gaza as rocket fire steadily continues.
The violence is the worst in Gaza since a war last year that devastated the impoverished territory — home to some 2.3 million Palestinians — and forced countless Israelis to seek shelter from rockets.
Israel’s military has warned its latest aerial and artillery campaign against Islamic Jihad could last a week, but Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo was talking “around the clock” with both sides to ease the violence.
