Israel has killed 30 Palestinians and injured more than 90 others in airstrikes in the Gaza Strip since Tuesday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The victims include six children and three women as well as the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) rocket force and his deputy.
Palestinian factions in Gaza continued to fire rockets in retaliation from the besieged coastal enclave in Israel, killing one person on Thursday.
Amid mediation efforts by Egypt, neither side appeared ready to quell the worst flare-up since August, now in its third day.
“We are at the height of a campaign, both offensive and defensive,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a videotaped statement issued during a visit to an air base.
“Whoever comes to harm us – his blood is forfeited.”
The deaths of Ali Ghali and Ahmed Abu Daqqa brought to five the number of senior PIJ figures killed since Israel began attacking Gaza early Tuesday.
Egypt has said it is trying to secure a ceasefire, but so far its efforts have proved futile.
Cairo, which has hosted senior PIJ official Mohammad al-Hindi for talks, was cautious about the prospects for a ceasefire.
“Egypt’s efforts to calm things down and resume the political process have not yet borne fruit,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told reporters.
Meeting Jordanian, French and German counterparts in Berlin, Shoukry urged “peace-keeping countries to intervene and stop the attacks” and said Israel must “stop the unilateral measures aimed at destroying the future of the Palestinian state”. .
Under conditions for a ceasefire, PIJ wants an end to Israeli assassinations of its leaders.
“Islamic Jihad demands that if there is to be a ceasefire, Israel must commit to not killing any more of their leaders. This is something Israel says they will not do. We have seen five of their leaders killed by Israel in the last two days and they say they have the right to do that,” Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Jamjoom said.
Israel seems to be hoping that the PIJ, depleted of rockets and commanders, will unilaterally cease hostilities.
The initial Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday that set off the exchange of fire killed three senior PIJ fighters and at least 10 civilians, most of them women and children.
More than 90 people were wounded in the attacks, which destroyed five buildings and damaged more than 300 apartments, said Salama Marouf, chairman of the media office for the Hamas group that rules Gaza.
Israel has closed crossings to the movement of people and goods since Tuesday, completely blocking travel, even for urgent humanitarian needs, and preventing patients from accessing medical treatment unavailable in Gaza, rights groups said.
Some “292 patients and companions were prevented from accessing medical treatment not available in Gaza, many of them cancer patients and others in need of life-saving treatment provided by hospitals in the West Bank or Israel,” the Israeli rights group, Gisha – Law Center for Freedom of Movement, said in a statement.
“The closure of Beit Hanoon crossing puts additional lives at risk by preventing urgent evacuations, which may be necessary, of civilians injured during the assault.”
Gisha, along with the rights organizations Adalah, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel and Al Mezan, sent an urgent letter to several Israeli officials demanding that Israel stop all harm to civilians and allow humanitarian access immediately.
“Security challenges, including risks posed during active hostilities, do not exempt Israel from its humanitarian obligations to residents of Gaza,” the organizations said, concluding that “the violation of these principles raises grave concerns of flagrant violations of the rules of war which may amount to war crimes.”
