Easing Tensions and Mutual Attacks on Gaza-Israel, Egypt Middles At Armistice Efforts

JAKARTA - Egypt is said to have started efforts to mediate Israeli tensions with militant groups in Gaza, ending mutual attacks, as Israel attacked targets of the Islamic Jihad group which was retaliated by launching hundreds of rockets across the border, triggering alarm in Tel Aviv.

The second round of cross-border fire in a week came after Israel launched an attack on Tuesday against three Islamic Jihad commanders who it said had been plotting attacks against Israel, after months of escalating violence.

Cairo, which has mediated in the fighting before, has started brokering a ceasefire, Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shehab said.

While Israel is examining the Egyptian proposal, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen told public broadcaster Kan.

Separately, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised speech the Islamic Jihad group had taken a serious hit, but warned: "The campaign is not over."

The Israeli military said it had hit more than 130 targets, including rocket launch sites, as explosions were heard across the Palestinian enclave.

A late night bombing of a building in the southern Gaza region of Khan Younis killed the head of the Islamic Jihad rocket launcher squad, identified as Ali Ghali, and two other militants, the Israeli military and Islamic Jihad said.

Minutes after Wednesday's airstrikes began, sirens sounded across Israel - mostly in border settlement areas - but soon also in and around the commercial capital Tel Aviv, 60 km (37 miles) north of Gaza.

More than 400 rockets were fired, said PM Netanyahu, although a quarter of them failed in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the joint command of Gaza's militant groups, which includes Islamic Jihad and the enclave's Hamas rulers, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

But Israeli military officials said they saw no sign that Hamas, which is believed to have hundreds of rockets in its arsenal, had fired the missile itself.

They said Israeli strikes were directed only at targets linked to the smaller Islamic Jihad group, an Iran-backed militant organization based in Gaza that has become increasingly active in the occupied West Bank over the past year.

Separately, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the need for de-escalation during a phone call on Wednesday with the head of Israel's National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, the White House said.

"Sullivan ... noted continued regional efforts to broker a ceasefire, and stressed the need to de-escalate tensions and prevent further loss of life," according to the White House.

In total, 24 Palestinians, including at least five women and five children, as well as three senior Islamic Jihad commanders and four gunmen have been killed since the fighting began, Palestinian health officials said.

The militant groups said the rocket fire was retaliation for the Israeli attack, which it described as a "savage and treacherous bombing of civilian homes that left several innocent martyrs."

Last week, the Islamic Jihad Group fired more than 100 rockets across the border as Israeli jets struck targets in Gaza in hours-long exchanges, following the death of a grave-striking Islamic Jihad figure in Israeli custody.