The death toll from Israeli air raids on Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip rose to nine Saturday, while a retaliatory rocket fire by Palestinian militants killed one Israeli civilian and wounded at least two others.
Islamic Jihad said a commander of the Palestinian militant group was among those killed in the attacks.
The air raids prompted a cross-border Palestinian rocket salvoes that killed one Israeli civilian and wounded at least two others. Israeli police said Gaza militants fired more than 20 rockets into southern Israel.
The Israeli military confirmed the air strikes, saying those hit were responsible for firing rockets that landed in Israel on Wednesday. That attack caused no casualties.
Israel demanded international intervention to stop the Palestinian attacks. In a statement Saturday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said "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."
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
