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Summary Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed eight Palestinians and wounded three others.
Palestinian medical officials said early Saturday that a total of eight people had been killed and three injured in five Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip.The Israeli raids came as Palestinians fired dozens of rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel, injuring four people, one seriously, Israeli military sources said.One Israeli strike, on a car travelling in the Tel El-Hawa neighbourhood west of Gaza City, killed the head of the militant Popular Resistance Committees, Zohair al-Qaisi, and fellow member Mahmud Hanani, the group said.Both the PRC and the military wing of Hamas threatened to retaliate for Qaisis death.The Al Quds Brigades, the military arm of Islamic Jihad said that strikes on the east side of the city had killed its members Obeid al-Gharabli, Mohammed Harara, Hazem Qoureqa and Shadi Seqali.The attacks came in response to Palestinian mortar and rocket fire which started on Friday morning. The Israeli military said that in the course of the day about 30 rockets and mortar rounds had landed in southern Israel.The PRC and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbass Fatah movement, issued statements claiming to have fired rockets into Israel on Friday.The official Palestinian WAFA news agency quoted a statement by the Fatah-dominated Palestinan Authority condemning the Israeli retaliation, saying it had created a negative environment that would escalate the circle of violence in the region.The Israeli military said Qaisi was among the leaders who planned, funded and directed a deadly cross-border attack into southern Israel from Egypts Sinai last August.
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