Islamic Jihad commander killed, Palestinians renew rocket barrage

Israel killed a senior Palestinian militant commander in Gaza on Monday in air strikes and also targeted underground tunnels used by Hamas, and Islamist groups renewed rocket attacks on Israeli cities.  The death of Hussam Abu Harbeed, Islamic Jihad's armed commander for north Gaza, was likely to draw a fierce response from the militant group that is fighting alongside Hamas. The Israeli military said in a statement that Harbeed had been "behind several anti-tank missile terror attacks against Israeli civilians," and an Israel general said separately that his country could carry on the fight "forever".

Israel's military said Gaza militants had fired about 60 rockets towards Israeli cities overnight, down from 120 and 200 the two previous nights. Gaza health officials put the death toll since the hostilities flared last week at 201. Ten people have been killed in Israel. After rockets were fired from Gaza at the Israeli cities of Beersheba and Ashkelon, Israeli jets bombed 15 km (nine miles) of underground tunnels used by Hamas. It also struck nine residences belonging to high-ranking Hamas commanders, it said. The Israeli military said Hamas, as a terrorist movement, and other armed factions had fired about 3,150 rockets from Gaza over the past week. Israel's missile defence system intercepted most of them, it said