The Israeli military killed two Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip early yesterday, bringing to 11 the death toll in one of the bloodiest 24 hours in the Hamas-run territory in recent months.
The escalation came shortly after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that an extensive Israeli military operation aimed at curbing incessant Palestinian rocket fire was only a matter of time.
A pre-dawn Israeli air strike killed two militants from the armed wing of Hamas near the northern town of Beit Hanun, Palestinian sources said.
The army confirmed that it had "targeted a rocket-launching cell in northern Gaza who were about to fire into Israel, and we identified hitting them."
Late on Wednesday, nine Palestinians, two of them civilians, were killed in two separate Israeli strikes across the impoverished territory.
In the heart of Gaza City, five militants from the radical Army of Islam which claims links to al-Qaeda were killed when an Israeli aircraft targeted their truck. A sixth member of the group died of his wounds overnight, medics said.
The Army of Islam was one of three Palestinian groups, including Hamas' armed wing, that claimed responsibility for the capture of an Israeli serviceman in a brazen cross-border raid in June last year.
It was also responsible for kidnapping BBC reporter Alan Johnston in March.
In the northern town of Beit Hanun, two civilians and one militants were killed during an Israeli ground incursion on the outskirts of the town, when armored vehicles backed by helicopters moved some 2km inside Palestinian territory in search of rockets, the army said.
The ground operation ended early yesterday morning, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
The Israeli action in the territory also wounded at least 20 people.
More than 20 mortar shells and 11 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza over the past 24 hours, causing minor damage but no injuries, the army said.
The violence marks one of the bloodiest 24 hours in Gaza since Hamas, a group pledged to Israel's destruction, seized control of the territory in the middle of June, routing security forces loyal to president Mahmud Abbas.
It came as Israelis began celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and as Gazans continued to observe the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Despite regular limited incursions and air strikes into Gaza -- with 1.5 million residents of the world's most densely populated places -- Israel has been unable to stamp out rocket fire from the territory.
On Wednesday Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that "we are nearing an extensive operation in Gaza in response to rocket firing.
"This operation will not be simple, both because of the forces that will have to be involved and the time limit that will be imposed on them," he told army radio.
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