Israel, Militants Continue Attacks for Second Day

Posted October 30th, 2011 at 6:00 am (UTC-5)
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Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian militants continued to launch attacks against each other Sunday, following deadly attacks that began Saturday with an Israeli air raid on Palestinian militants.

Egypt's attempt to broker a cease-fire between the two factions has so far failed to bring a halt to the flare-up of violence. Several rockets were fired into southern Israel early Sunday, while Israeli aircraft targeted militant sites in the Gaza Strip overnight.

The Palestinian militants said Sunday they are ready to adhere to a cease-fire agreement, if Israel agrees to it.

Israeli air raids on Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza Saturday killed nine people. Islamic Jihad said a commander of the Palestinian militant group was among those killed. Retaliatory rocket fire by Palestinian militants killed an Israeli civilian and wounded at least two others.

The Israeli military said its air strikes Saturday hit militants responsible for firing rockets into Israel Wednesday. That rocket attack caused no casualties.

Israel demanded international intervention to stop the Palestinian attacks. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Saturday “Israel seeks no confrontation with the Palestinians and does not want to escalate the current situation, but it will not tolerate shelling after shelling without a response.”

The United Nations called for restraint. U.N. Middle East envoy Robert Serry said “it was vital to de-escalate now, without delay.”