Gaza missile attacks continue to escalate

Palestinian militants fired more than a dozen rockets at southern Israel today and Israeli warplanes killed four militants in the Gaza Strip in the most intense fighting since Israel's 2008-2009 offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory.

The escalating series of strikes and counter-strikes has killed 18 Gaza residents since it began on Thursday, and the continuing clashes are increasing the probability of a full-scale military confrontation.

Israeli officials said the air strikes would continue as long as the rocket attacks persist. Hamas officials insisted they were trying to restore calm, but said they were prepared to fight.

"Hamas will not stand idle in front of this escalation," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. "We have exercised a limited response so far, but we warn the occupation against continuing with their crimes."

After two years of relative calm, the situation began to escalate last weekend when an air strike killed three Palestinian militants who Israel said were plotting to carry out a cross-border kidnapping.

On Thursday, Hamas militants fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, wounding two people on board, including a teenage boy.

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of crossing a line and vowed a harsh response.

Hamas says Israel has used excessive force in its retaliation, which has killed six civilians and wounded more than 65.

Gaza militants fired 17 Grad-style Katyusha rockets and seven mortar shells into Israel today in what Israeli police said was the biggest single-day bombardment since the Gaza war.

Several missiles fell in uninhabited areas near the southern Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beersheba, while seven were intercepted by Israel's new missile shield, Iron Dome. There were no reports of injuries.

Iron Dome, activated earlier this week, is the first system in the world able to knock down short-range rockets. The homegrown system could potentially alter the balance of power if it proves able to consistently stop a large number of rockets.

Thousands in Gaza attended funerals for the militants killed today, among them a Hamas commander in the southern city of Rafah, along the border with Egypt.

In Gaza City, crowds of onlookers, including groups of children, watched as bodies wrapped in green Hamas flags were carried through the streets. Militants fired in the air and chanted: "The blood of our martyrs will not be spilled in vain."

Hamas has controlled Gaza since seizing the territory in a brief civil war against the rival Fatah faction in 2007. Late the following year, Israel invaded the territory to stop years of persistent rocket fire.

During the three-week operation, Israeli forces killed some 1,400 people, including hundreds of civilians, while 13 Israelis were also killed.

Both sides may be using the current flare-up to test each other's capabilities in the wake of the 2008-2009 war. Israel would want to see what weapons Hamas really has obtained, while Hamas has an interest in seeing whether the much-touted Iron Dome system really works.

But both sides have signalled they hope to restore calm.

Israeli officials said the rocket fire, and particularly Thursday's bus attack, required a strong response and the air strikes were aimed at deterring Hamas and would continue until the rocket fire stops.

Ihab Ghussein, spokesman for the Hamas Interior Ministry, which oversees the group's security forces, said Hamas has been in touch with various militant factions in Gaza, as well as with regional governments in hopes of restoring the calm.