A new round of hostilities triggered by a botched Israeli covert operation in the Gaza Strip pushed the territory's fragile security situation to the brink on Monday, as Palestinian militants launched hundreds of rockets toward Israel and Israeli jets carried out bombing raids.
Israel's military said it had rushed extra infantry troops and air defenses to the border with Gaza as at least 300 projectiles were launched toward Israeli territory on Monday. Several rockets hit residential buildings, while an antitank missile struck a bus transporting soldiers, the military said, critically injuring a 19-year-old.
Although violence in Gaza has flared sporadically in recent months, Monday's exchange reached a new pitch. The Israeli military struck 70 targets in Gaza, signaling a campaign with wider scope than other recent bombing raids.
The headquarters of al-Aqsa TV, run by the Islamist militant group Hamas, was among the targets, with the Israeli military describing it as a "strategic terror target." Hamas, which controls Gaza, said its main internal security building in central Gaza City also was struck.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said three people were killed and at least two injured in the air raids. Islamic Jihad, another militant group in Gaza, said two of those killed were its fighters.
As international mediators worked to broker a cease-fire, neither side showed any sign of backing down. After the strike on the television station, Palestinian factions said they would extend the range of their rockets.
Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, coordinator of Israeli government activities in the Palestinian territories, said that Hamas had crossed a "red line" and that the military would "dial up" its response.
He told residents of Gaza to "look carefully" at the pictures from the 2014 war in the territory. "A picture is worth a thousand words," he said.
Militant factions in Gaza vowed to retaliate for Israel's "aggressive crime" after seven Palestinian extremists, including a Hamas commander, were killed Sunday night as a group of Israeli special forces carried out an operation inside Gaza. One senior Israeli officer also was killed. Armed factions in Gaza began firing rockets in response at communities across the border, which they vowed would "remain unlivable" as long as Israel persists with such actions.