Operation Shield and Arrow continued Friday as Israeli warplanes struck terror targets in Gaza and terrorists fired more rockets from the strip.
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There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side Friday, as foreign mediators pressed ahead with efforts to reach a ceasefire. On Thursday, a 70-year-old man was killed when a rocket hit a residential building in Rehovot. Thirty-one Palestinians have also been killed in the current round of conflict, including from misfired Palestinian missiles.
The IDF said its warplanes struck Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket launchers. Gaza residents reported explosions in farms near the southern city of Rafah. A burst of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip sent air raid sirens wailing near Israel's southern border Friday, breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations could soon be able to broker a ceasefire. An air raid also sounded in the Jerusalem area.
A senior Israeli official told Israel Hayom that truce talks were suspended on Friday despite renewed optimism late Thursday and early in the morning after rocket fire stopped for several hours before being renewed toward noon.
"Even prior to the rocket fire on Jerusalem, we had already decided after the [Friday] volley on the Gaza-area communities that we will stop the ceasefire talks and respond forcefully to the PIJ's action." The official said that the Israeli response to the recent rocket fire "will be significant, and if escalation is warranted, we will do so." The official noted that "Jerusalem is just like Tel Aviv and Sderot – we do not differentiate, and that is why decided to stop the talks and continue the strikes because of their attacks on the south."
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