Israeli forces have killed no fewer than 30 Palestinians and injured more than 90 others in air attacks on the Gaza Strip this week, the Palestinian health ministry has revealed.
The victims include six children and three women as well as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket force and his deputy.
Palestinian factions in Gaza continued to fire rockets in retaliation from the besieged coastal enclave into Israel, killing one person on Thursday.
Amid mediation efforts by Egypt, neither side seemed ready to douse the worst flare-up since August, now in its third day.
“We are at the height of a campaign, both offensive and defensive,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement issued during a visit to an air base.
“Whoever comes to harm us – his blood is forfeit.”
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The deaths of Ali Ghali and Ahmed Abu Daqqa brought to five the number of senior figures from PIJ killed since Israel began attacking Gaza early on Tuesday.
Egypt said it was trying to secure a truce but so far, its efforts have proved futile.
Cairo, which hosted senior PIJ official Mohammad al-Hindi for talks, was circumspect about prospects for a ceasefire.
‘Egypt’s efforts to calm things down and resume the political process have not yet borne fruit,’ Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters.
Meeting Jordanian, French, and German counterparts in Berlin, Shoukry urged ‘peace-sponsoring countries to intervene and stop the attacks’ and said Israel must ‘stop the unilateral measures that aim to destroy the future of the Palestinian state’.
Among terms for a truce, PIJ wants an end to Israeli assassinations of its leaders.
‘Islamic Jihad is demanding that if there is to be a ceasefire, Israel must commit to not assassinate any more of their leaders. This is something Israel says it’s not going to do. We’ve seen five of their leaders over the course of the past two days assassinated by Israel and they’re saying they have the right to do that,’ said Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom.
Israel appears to be hoping the PIJ, depleted of rockets and commanders, would halt hostilities unilaterally.