Gaza death toll rises, including children as Israeli attacks continue

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired rockets at Jerusalem Aug. 7 for the first time since conflict escalated, as Israel bombarded Islamic Jihad positions for a third day in violence that has left 29 dead.

The updated count from health authorities in the Islamist-run enclave said six children were among those killed since the start of the Israeli aggression on Friday, in addition to 253 people injured.

On Sunday Israel pressed on with its bombardment of positons of Islamic Jihad militants who have retaliated with barrages of rockets.

The Israeli army has said the entire "senior leadership of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad in Gaza has been neutralised", and Prime Minister Yair Lapid vowed Sunday that "the operation will continue as long as necessary".

In Gaza, the ministry initially said 32 people had died since Friday, but later revised the figure down to 29.

It was not immediately clear how many children were killed in the incident in Jabalia. An AFP photographer saw six dead bodies at an area hospital, including three minors.

In Jerusalem AFP reporters heard two explosions as rockets were intercepted in the air.

Al Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad movement's military wing, said it had "fired rockets" at the city, where air raid sirens wailed.

Jews on Sunday mark the Tisha Be'av remembrance day by visiting the Al Aqsa mosque compound, known in Judaism as the Temple Mount, in Israel-annexed east Jerusalem.

Tensions there have previously sparked wider violence, and Hamas's Doha-based chief Ismail Haniyeh has warned against allowing Jews to "storm" the compound Sunday, saying it could lead to an "uncontrollable" security crisis.
The violence is the worst in Gaza since a war last year devastated...