The death toll continues to rise Sunday on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border in one of the most intense flare-ups of violence in the region in years, shattering a month-long lull in attacks. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired more than 600 rockets into southern Israel in less than 24 hours, killing at least four Israelis and leaving several more in critical condition. Israel has retaliated with dozens of airstrikes against militant sites in Gaza. More than a dozen Palestinians, including a pregnant woman and her 14-month old niece, have also been killed. According to Haaretz, four Israeli men and 16 Palestinians were killed so far since tensions increased along the border on Friday. Four Israelis were also wounded as rockets fell on the Israeli south on Saturday. President Trump reacted Sunday night on Twitter: “Once again, Israel faces a barrage of deadly rocket attacks by terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We support Israel 100% in its defense of its citizens... To the Gazan people — these terrorist acts against Israel will bring you nothing but more misery. END the violence and work towards peace - it can happen!” ISRAEL STRIKES GAZA TARGETS IN RESPONSE TO PALESTINIAN HEAVY ROCKET FIRE On Sunday, the Israeli military said a misfired Palestinian rocket — not an Israeli airstrike — caused the death of a pregnant Palestinian woman and her infant niece in the Gaza Strip, disputing the Gaza Health Ministry's statement that Israel is to blame. According to the Israeli military, Israeli forces struck dozens of targets in Gaza, including militant sites that were concealed in residential areas. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israel’s strikes hit a variety of “high-quality” militant sites, including commanders’ homes in which militant activity was observed. Israeli medical officials said an early morning rocket from Gaza Sunday killed an Israeli father of four, 58-year-old Moshe Agadi, outside a home in the coastal city of Ashkelon. Agadi reportedly died of his injuries after he was struck by shrapnel, marking the first Israeli casualty from rocket fire since the 2014 war with Hamas militants. According to The Barzilai Medical Center in Israel, a 49-year-old man was killed when a rocket hit an Ashkelon factory, while another man in Israel was killed when his vehicle was hit by a projectile near a small border community called Yad Mordechai. Israeli medical officials also said a Thai laborer was critically injured in a rocket strike later on Sunday. ISRAEL SAYS 2 SOLDIERS WOUNDED BY GUNFIRE FROM GAZA By late afternoon, the Israeli military said militants had fired more than 600 rockets into Israel, and that Israeli forces had launched about 260 airstrikes against militant targets in Gaza. Palestinian officials identified one of the militants who was killed as Hamas commander Hamed al-Khoudary, who Israel said was integral in transferring Iranian money to the militant group. In Israel, sirens warning of incoming attacks were heard along the border region overnight and throughout the day. Schools were canceled and roads were closed as many Israelis reportedly hid in bomb shelters. According to Haaretz, the Israeli army said it expects the flare-up to continue in the coming days. A Hamas political source told the news outlet that the group decided to take serious steps against Israel because the Israeli government has been slow in implementing understandings reached between the two parties. In Gaza, large explosions thundered across the blockaded enclave throughout the night and plumes of smoke rose into the air. One of the airstrikes hit a commercial and residential building that housed the office of Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency. The Israeli military said its Iron Dome defense system intercepted more than 150 of the projectiles from Gaza, but several still managed to get through. The sudden violence has ended a month-long lull as Egyptian mediators had been trying to negotiate a long-term cease-fire. CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies that have fought three wars since 2007 when the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza. There have been also been several smaller flare-ups, most recently, in late March. Fox News' Mike Arroyo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Twenty-three people have died in Gaza as a result of the fighting between Israel and Gaza militants since Saturday morning, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. In Israel, four people have been killed by rocket fire from Gaza, according to local hospitals and emergency services. Eight of the dead in Gaza are members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the Quds Brigade, according to an Islamic Jihad spokesman. Another of those killed was targeted deliberately – the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says Hamid Ahmed Abdul Khudri, 34, was responsible for money transfers from Iran to militant groups like Islamic Jihad and Hamas inside Gaza. Health officials in Gaza also say that two infants, a 12-year old boy, and two pregnant women have been killed. There is a dispute over the cause of the deaths of one of the infants and one of the pregnant women – Gaza health officials say both died in an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military says they were killed when a militant rocket misfired on launch In Israel, a 58-year-old man was killed by rocket fire in Ashkelon overnight Saturday into Sunday, according to Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon. A 50-year-old Israeli man was killed when his car was hit by a Kornet anti-tank missile near Sderot on Sunday afternoon, according to emergency response services. A foreign worker was killed by a rocket that landed on a factory in Ashkelon on Sunday according to Barzilai hospital. A fourth man was killed when a rocket struck a car next to him in Ashdod on Sunday evening, according to ZAKA, an emergency volunteer response service. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “massive attacks against terrorist elements” in Gaza will continue after militants in the coastal enclave fired approximately 600 rockets towards Israel. Speaking at the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday morning, Netanyahu said: “Hamas bears the responsibility not only for its own attacks and actions but also for the actions of Islamic Jihad, and it is paying a very heavy price for this.” Israel has so far responded with airstrikes on 320 targets across Gaza, according to the IDF. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) announced that all fuel imports to Gaza would be stopped effective immediately. Diplomatic attempts to bring an end to the fighting were continuing. “Very intense” mediation efforts by Egypt and the United Nations were underway to try to restore a ceasefire, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told CNN. The source acknowledged that the challenge was great but said mediators were “not giving up hope and pushing very hard.” The escalation began Saturday morning with about 50 rockets fired towards Israel within the course of an hour and continued late into the evening. The IDF said its Iron Dome aerial defense system had intercepted dozens of the incoming rockets. In response to the rockets, the IDF said it carried out airstrikes on targets in Gaza including a tunnel, rocket launcher sites and other military compounds used by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ.) The military also struck a mosque in al-Shati in northern Gaza, which the IDF said was used a command and control center by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/AFP/Getty Images Palestinians walk by a clothing shop damaged by Israeli airstrikes on Saturday. Turkey has condemned a strike on a building housing the office of its state-run Anadolu news agency, a building which Israel says is also used by Hamas’s military intelligence. A spokesman for Turkey’s President said: “We urge all governments that claim to defend press freedom, including @USEmbassyTurkey to join us in condemning the Israeli government.” Israel announced that it is closing the two border crossings between Israel and Gaza, as well as closing the Gaza fishing zone. The fishing zone was restricted to 6 nautical miles earlier this week following a rocket fired from Gaza that landed off the coast of Israel. There was no specific date for when the crossings and the fishing zone would reopen. Saturday’s rocket barrage came less than a day after two militants from Hamas’ armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, were killed in an Israeli strike on Hamas posts in Gaza. A serious escalation Israel launched airstrikes Friday after two Israeli soldiers were wounded by sniper fire along the Gaza border. Two other Palestinians died in Gaza Friday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, with both men succumbing to their wounds after being shot by Israeli troops during protests along the Gaza fence, according to health officials. This is the first serious escalation between Israel and Gaza militants since the Israeli election almost a month ago. In the run-up to that election, Egypt succeeded in mediating an agreement between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, following an exchange of rockets and airstrikes in March. The agreement, though never publicly acknowledged by Israel, included measures aimed at loosening the restrictions imposed on Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants. Recent pronouncements by Hamas officials have suggested growing frustration that Israel has not moved fast enough to fulfill its pledges, including allowing the transfer of millions of dollars of extra funding from Qatar. The upturn in violence comes as Israel is preparing to mark Independence Day next week and host the Eurovision Song Contest the following week. Analysts say Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would much prefer those events to occur in a state of calm rather than one of open conflict. On Saturday evening, the UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, announcing renewed efforts with Egypt to restore calm, called on all parties to immediately de-escalate or risk a conflict with “grave consequences for all.” CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman and Ameera Harouda reported in Gaza, and Andrew Carey reported and wrote in Jerusalem. CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Amir Tal contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Hamas officials said they escalated the violence to push Israel to stick to the terms it had agreed to after another such flare-up in March, when rocket fire had caused Netanyahu to cut short a trip to Washington. Hamas accused Israel of reneging on the deal to allow in cash assistance of $30 million a month from Qatar, expand fishing rights and ease the restrictions on imports and exports that have choked Gaza’s economy.<doc-sep>
Israel and militant forces in Gaza agreed to a cease-fire early Monday after a weekend of violence that killed at least 27 people and injured hundreds more on both sides of the border in one of the region's most intense flareups of violence in years. More than 600 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza beginning Saturday morning, prompting Israel to retaliate with airstrikes. The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, signaled Monday that a cease-fire had been reached, saying that "all protective restrictions in the home front" were lifted at 7 a.m. local time. Palestinian media also reported that a truce had been brokered. A Palestinian family waits for medical help inside an ambulance in Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Anas Baba / AFP - Getty Images At least 23 Palestinians — including two pregnant women, two infants and a child — were killed, along with two unborn children, and 154 more people were injured in the Palestinian enclave, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Sunday night. Barzilai Medical Center in the coastal city of Ashkelon confirmed the deaths of four Israelis on Sunday, adding that more than 110 others had been injured. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the IDF, said a Palestinian woman and child who were killed Saturday were not killed by an Israeli weapon. "It was from internal fire," he said. The Israeli military said late Sunday that 690 rockets were fired toward Israel from Gaza. The country's Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted 240 rockets, while Israeli forces targeted 350 Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "the campaign is not over and requires patience and judgment. We are preparing to continue. The goal was and remains to ensure the peace and security of the residents of the south." The military said it struck rocket launchers, tunnel shafts, "terror squads and operatives," and weapons-making factories belonging to Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, and the Iranian-funded group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Sirens sounded throughout the weekend in southern Israel to warn of incoming rockets. In Gaza, large explosions thundered across the blockaded enclave as plumes of smoke rose. The outburst of fighting broke a month-long lull as Egyptian mediators had been trying to negotiate a long-term cease-fire between the two sides, who have fought three wars and several other rounds of conflict over the last decade. Israeli Cabinet ministers issued a statement Sunday after meeting for nearly five hours, saying the "ultimate consideration is the security of the state and its residents." Earlier, Netanyahu 's office told NBC News that he had told David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, and ambassadors from Europe that Hamas was "committing a double war crime by indiscriminately shooting at civilians from civilian centers." President Donald Trump said Sunday night on Twitter that "the Gazan people" should "END the violence" and that the United States supported Israel "100% in its defense of its citizens." The cease-fire comes as Israel marks Memorial Day and Independence Day this week, when masses head out to ceremonies at military cemeteries and street parties across the country. The next week, it will host the Eurovision song contest, for which large groups of tourists are expected to arrive. For Gazans, it comes ahead of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which began Monday. A building damaged by a rocket strike from the Gaza Strip in the city of Ashdod, Israel. JACK GUEZ / AFP - Getty Images Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, most recently engaged in several days of heavy fighting with Israel in March before Egypt brokered a truce, under which Israel agreed to ease a crippling blockade on Gaza in exchange for a halt in rocket fire. Hamas has said it hopes that Egyptian mediators could further ease the blockade, which has ravaged Gaza's economy. In recent days, Hamas has accused Israel of reneging on its pledges as militants began to fire rockets into Israel. Israel, in turn, accused Islamic Jihad of instigating the latest round of violence by shooting and wounding two Israeli soldiers Friday. In response, Israeli aircraft carried out retaliatory strikes, killing two Hamas militants, it said. On Friday, two Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces during the weekly protests along Israel-Gaza perimeter fence. For more than a year, the Islamic group has orchestrated mass demonstrations every week along the Israeli frontier to draw attention to Gaza's plight.