Wife and son of Hamas leader dies in attack

An Israeli air strike in Gaza killed the wife and infant son of Hamas’s military leader, Mohammed Deif, the group said, calling it an attempt to assassinate him after a ceasefire collapsed.

Palestinians launched more than 130 rockets, mainly at southern Israel, with some intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the military said. No casualties were reported on the Israeli side.

Egypt, which has been trying to broker a long-term ceasefire in indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks, said it would continue contacts with both sides, whose delegates left Cairo after hostilities resumed on Tuesday.

But there appeared to be no end in sight to violence that shattered a 10-day period of calm, the longest break from fighting since Israel launched its Gaza offensive on July 8 with the declared aim of ending rocket fire into its territory.

Israeli aircraft have carried out 80 strikes in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday, “targeting terror sites”, the military said.

Hamas and medical officials said 19 people died in the latest Israeli raids, including Deif’s wife and seven-month-old son. Deif is widely believed to be masterminding the Islamist group’s military campaign from underground bunkers.

A Hamas official said Deif, head of Hamas’s Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, had not used the targeted house.

Chanting “Qassam, bomb Tel Aviv!”, thousands of Palestinians attended the funeral of Deif’s wife and son in Jabalya refugee camp.