Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue even as hopes for a ceasefire grow

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continue even as hopes for a ceasefire grow

GAZA CITY: Israeli airstrikes against Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip continued for a third day on Friday. The Palestinian death toll rose to 31, authorities said, as foreign mediators pressed ahead with efforts to reach a ceasefire. Meanwhile, sirens warning of incoming rocket fire sounded in southern Israel on Friday. The Israeli Defence Forces said sirens sounded in communities around the blockaded enclave but there was no immediate word of any damage. After the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group fired longer-range rockets toward Israel on Thursday — sending shrapnel slicing through apartments that killed a 70-year-old man — the Israeli military said its warplanes struck Islamic Jihad rocket launchers. Gaza residents reported explosions in farms near the southern city of Rafah. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Islamic Jihad held its rocket fire overnight, raising hopes that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations would be able to broker a ceasefire. During a lull in the fighting Friday, Palestinians surveyed the wreckage wrought by Israeli strikes. “The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended,” said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to