Tel Aviv, Approximately 250 rockets were fired by Gaza militants towards Israel, which has responded with airstrikes on over 100 targets across the coastal enclave, to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday.
The escalation began Saturday morning with about 50 rockets fired towards Israel within the course of an hour and continued late into the evening, reports CNN.
The IDF said that its Iron Dome aerial defence system had intercepted dozens of the incoming rockets.
In response to the rockets, the IDF said it has carried out airstrikes on about 130 militant targets in Gaza, including a tunnel, rocket launcher sites and other military compounds used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Four Palestinians were killed in the airstrikes, including a 14-month-old baby and its pregnant mother, Gaza health officials said, adding that 18 others were also injured.
Two Israelis were also wounded in the rocket attacks, according to Israel’s emergency response service.
Israel on Sunday announced that it was closing the two border crossings between the country and Gaza, as well as closing the Gaza fishing zone.
There was no specific date for when the crossings and the fishing zone would reopen.
Meanwhile, Turkey has condemned a strike on a building housing the office of its state-run Anadolu news agency, a building which Israel says is also used by Hamas’s military intelligence.
A spokesman for Turkey’s President said: “We urge all governments that claim to defend press freedom, including @USEmbassyTurkey to join us in condemning the Israeli government.”
The flare-up over the weekend followed a truce agreed last month.
