After the long-range Palestinian missile attack, the first of its kind since a 2014 war, Israeli air strikes resumed on Thursday afternoon, flattening a multi-storey building that the Israeli military described as a Hamas headquarters. In this file photo, Khalil Al Hayya, deputy head of Hamas in Gaza, gestures during the Palestinian National Popular Conference in Gaza City on April 29 (Reuters photo)

GAZA/ OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — UN and Egyptian mediated talks on a deal to tamp down tensions between Israel and the Gaza Strip are in "advanced stages", a senior member of the Palestinian enclave's dominant Hamas group said on Wednesday. GAZA/SDEROT, Israel: Israeli aircraft struck more than 150 targets in Gaza overnight and Palestinian militants fired scores of rockets including a long-range missile deep into Israel, escalating fighting despite talks on a truce to avert an all-out conflict. A pregnant Palestinian woman and her 18-month-old child were killed in the Israeli attacks overnight on Wednesday, as was a Hamas militant, Gaza medical officials said. The U.N., he said, has engaged with Egypt in an “unprecedented effort” to avoid serious conflict, but warned “the situation can rapidly deteriorate with devastating consequences for all people.”

Gaza has been controlled by Hamas for more than a decade, during which time it has fought three wars against Israel, most recently in 2014. The Israeli army has killed at least 158 Palestinians, while a Gaza sniper killed an Israeli soldier, and Israel has lost tracts of forest and farmland to fires set by incendiary kites and helium balloons flown over the frontier.
Over 180 rockets and mortars are launched toward Israel by Hamas militants, injuring seven people. In retaliation, IDF launches an air assault on 150 targets in Gaza, in which three people are killed, including an 18-month-old child.