New Israeli strikes on Gaza take toll to 20

The Israeli army did not immediately confirm the strikes, but said it had targeted six separate sites in raids that the Palestinians said left at least 38 people injured.

An Israeli spokeswoman said the raids "targeted a weapons storage facility and four rocket launching sites in the northern Gaza Strip, as well as a rocket launching site in the southern Gaza Strip."

The raids were the latest in a round of tit-for-tat violence that erupted with Israel's killing of a senior militant on Friday and has seen dozens of air raids on Gaza and over 120 rockets fired from the territory into Israel.

In a statement, the spokesman for the Hamas-run emergency services in Gaza said "since Friday we have 20 martyrs and 68 injured in more than 35 airstrikes."

The renewed strikes came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned raids would continue "as long as necessary" and Hamas officials said efforts to broker a ceasefire through Egypt were not bearing fruit.

"I have given orders to strike all those who plan on attacking us," he said during a tour of southern Israel, public radio reported.

"The Israeli army has already dealt heavy blows to the terrorist organisations," he added.

Islamic Jihad, which has claimed responsibility for most of the rocket fire into Israel since Friday, quickly issued a statement in response, vowing that "operations will continue whatever the price."

Israel's top military officer said there would be no end in sight while rocket fire continued.

Both sides called for action from the UN Security Council yesterday, as the international peacemaking Quartet was to hold its first top-level meeting in six months today.

Yesterday, Israel carried out four air strikes killing three Palestinians, including a 12-year-old boy who was killed on his way to school in Jabaliya refugee camp.