It said “fighter jets commenced a wide-scale attack against Hamas military targets throughout the Gaza Strip.” It added that “Hamas chose to escalate the security situation and will bear the consequences for its actions.”

The Gaza Health Ministry said four Palestinians were killed. GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip killed a member of the Islamist group Hamas on Thursday and wounded three others, Hamas sources and medical officials said. After the air strike, the Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired mortar bombs at Israeli soldiers across the border, but no casualties had been reported. The past week had seen efforts to try to keep the situation under control, but Israel's Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned on Friday of a "much tougher" response against Hamas if continued to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip. Cross-border violence surged on Saturday when Palestinian militants fired more than 100 rockets into Israel and the Israeli military carried out dozens of air strikes in the Hamas-ruled enclave. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during protests at the frontier held every week since March.
The Israel Defense Forces engage in a gunfight with Hamas' military wing after an Israeli soldier is killed by a Palestinian sniper; four Hamas members are killed. Israel responds to the incident with strikes on Hamas targets across Gaza.