Israeli air strikes leave three people dead in Gaza

Three Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli air raids in Gaza yesterday, raising the death toll to 18, as militants fired more rockets into the Jewish state.

Israeli war planes carried out four strikes, killing three people, including a school boy and a 60-year-old man, who medics said was a civilian.

The bloodshed erupted on Friday afternoon when an Israeli strike killed the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), sparking a sharp cross-border exchange, in which 15 Gazans were killed, and more than 100 rockets were fired at Israel.