(AKI) - Clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces escalated on Thursday. Six rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel's western Negev desert by militants from the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigades, in retaliation for overnight attacks by the Israeli Air Force.The latest rocket attacks took place only a day before the end of an Egyptian-mediated six-month truce between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, and the Islamist movement pledged not to renew.
However, the intense tit-for-tat exchange of fire began on Monday with the assassination of one of the al-Quds Brigades leaders, allegedly by Israeli undercover forces in the West Bank.
During the Israeli Air Force attacks late Wednesday, a 53 year-old Palestinian man was killed.
Palestinian media reports said that F-16 fighter jets fired at a car near Khan Younis on Wednesday, and another in the Jabalya refugee camp, but no injuries were reported. In addition, Israeli helicopters were reported to have fired missiles in northern Gaza on Thursday.
Renewed clashes began on Monday, after Israeli undercover forces allegedly assassinated 23 year-old Ameen Jihad Nawahda, a leader of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the northern West Bank village of al-Yamoon, near Jenin.
Israeli media has said more than 40 rockets have been fired at southern Israel since Tuesday.