Israel's prime minister says he is “prepared to escalate” his country's response to a flare-up of violence along its border with the Gaza Strip.

Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet Sunday that Israel “will not sit idly by in the face of attempts to attack us.”

Hostilities along the Gaza Strip escalated sharply in recent days. On Saturday, Palestinian militants fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli military jeep patrolling the Gaza border, wounding four soldiers. Israel retaliated with air strikes Saturday and Sunday, killing six Palestinians. Officials and witnesses say 25 people have been wounded in the flare-up.

The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for firing the anti-tank missile into southern Israel.

Sporadic clashes have occurred between Israel and militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. However, the level of violence in the border region has been down significantly since an Israeli military operation in the region in 2008 killed 1,400 Palestinians.