Israeli airstrikes killed four Palestinian militants in Gaza while Palestinians fired rockets into southern Israel, hitting a synagogue and a school and wounding several Israelis in the aftermath of the deadliest attack against Israelis in three years.
Palestinian militants in Gaza launched at over two dozen rockets into Israel on Friday, the Israeli military said. One smashed through a roof of a Jewish seminary damaging a synagogue in the port city of Ashdod and wounded six Israelis who were standing outside, another hit an empty school, Israeli emergency services said. Another, aimed at the city of Ashkelon, was intercepted by the new Israeli anti-missile system known as Iron Dome.
Israeli aircraft struck several targets in Gaza on Friday in retaliation for the rocket attacks, the military said, killing four Palestinian militants. One strike hit a motorcycle carrying senior militants from the Palestinian group Israel says is behind Thursday's violence. Another five militants were killed Thursday night.
Gunmen who appear to have originated in Gaza and crossed into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert ambushed civilian vehicles travelling on a remote road, killing eight people. Six were civilians, and two were members of Israeli security forces responding to the incursion.
The sudden spike in violence threatened to upset the already frayed ties between Israel and Egypt and escalate the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
“If we see that Hamas is choosing to escalate, we will not hesitate to expand the scope of our actions, respond in strength and exact a price from Hamas,” he told Israel Army Radio on Friday morning.
Israeli aircraft hit multiple targets in Gaza in response to the rocket attacks, the military said.
