Crowd Flees Tel Aviv Beach After Siren Sounds

People ran from a Tel Aviv beach as sirens sounded Sunday, after a weekend-long pounding of Palestinian targets by Israel triggered longer-range rocket attacks against its cities.

Egypt is working to broker a truce to end the fighting in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. Gaza health authorities say at least 31 people, including six children, have died in Israeli airstrikes, while Israel says it wasn’t responsible for at least nine of the deaths. Palestinians have fired almost 600 rockets toward Israel since Friday.

The current clashes began when Israel arrested a senior Islamic Jihad official last week and a 17-year-old Palestinian was killed. Islamic Jihad, which is based in Gaza, threatened to retaliate.

On Friday, Israel launched a pre-emptive airstrike on Gaza, killing an Islamic Jihad commander. Since then, Islamic Jihad has fired some 600 missiles at Israel, most of which have been shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome system. The Health Ministry in Gaza said at least 31 people have been killed in the airstrikes, including six children.

Israel says it is not responsible for at least nine of the deaths, blaming Islamic Jihad for a rocket that fell short.

Israelis who live near the Gaza Strip have spent much of the past three days in bomb shelters. Adele Riemer lives in Nirim, a kibbutz located just over a kilometer from the Gaza border.

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