Gaza City: Palestinian rockets slammed into southern Israel on Monday morning after an Israeli air strike hit a Hamas lawmaker's house and killed eight people in the deadliest attack of a renewed Israeli campaign against incessant rocket fire.
The Israeli air strike on Sunday night, which followed a government decision to step up operations against Islamic militants, hit the house of lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home and was unharmed.
At least 13 people were wounded. All the dead and wounded were relatives and neighbours, his wife said. Hamas said two of the dead were militants.
Army spokeswoman Captain Noa Meir said the air strike was not aimed at al-Haya, but at a group of five armed Hamas men, including a senior militant, near the home.
''They, and only they, were the target, and they were hit,'' Meir said. Any civilian casualties, she said, ''were the result of the terrorists' use of civilians as human shields.''
Israel resumed its air strikes in Gaza last week in response to increased Palestinian rocket fire at southern Israeli towns. The air strikes have killed 36 Palestinians, most of them Hamas militants.
Early Monday, Israeli aircraft struck four more times in Gaza, the army said, killing a Hamas militant. The military said two of the targets were weapons factories. Palestinians said one was a cement factory and the other was a house.
The Israeli operations have not managed to stem the Palestinian rocket fire, and militants fired four more rockets at Israel on Monday morning.
There were no casualties. But several people have been wounded in recent days, and the rockets have severely disrupted life in the southern border town of Sderot, the militants' main target.
The Israeli air strikes appeared to have helped cement a truce between the warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah that began to take hold after a week of intense violence.
''No one would condone fighting one another while the Israelis are shelling Gaza,'' said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
At the time of Sunday night's air strike, Al-Haya was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting meant to bring Hamas and Fatah together.
Barhoum said the attack was a sign that Israel is targeting ''everyone _ civilians and leaders.''
''This escalation is very serious,'' he said, adding that ''all options are open'' for responding.
US Ambassador Richard Jones gave a boost of support to the Israeli campaign, but urged Israel to do its best to avoid harming civilians.
''We constantly urge Israel to target its response as closely as possible at those who are responsible for the actions, and to avoid innocent collateral damage,'' Jones said at an academic conference Monday. ''I don't think that we urge restraint, but we do urge people to be very clear that they're focused on those who are actually responsible for acts of terror against Israel.''
The Israeli government decided Sunday to step up military action aimed at Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main Islamic militant groups in Gaza.
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