GAZA - Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed two militants from the Islamist group Hamas and two Palestinian civilians on Friday as a fresh spike in cross-border violence continued for a second day. The Israeli military said it had "identified two terrorist squads from Hamas" and hit them from the ground and air. An elderly Palestinian and a woman died when their house in Khan Younis was hit and four other women were wounded, hospital sources said. The strikes came after a Palestinian splinter group fired two rockets into Israel around dawn. Two years of low-level skirmishing on the border escalated suddenly last month when the Islamist Hamas group which rules Gaza fired a barrage of rockets at Israel, triggering a surge of fighting which killed 16 Palestinians. Analysts in Gaza said Hamas wanted to bolster its claim to leadership of the divided Palestinian national movement and divert attention from popular demands – fuelled by the 'Arab Spring' – for an end to the split with its Fatah rivals. But it had miscalculated Israel's response. That spurt of violence subsided, but fighting flared again on Thursday when Hamas gunmen fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, wounding two. Israel retaliated with planes and armoured forces, killing five Palestinians. Hamas took responsibility for the bus attack, and an Israeli analyst said it was plainly smarting from recent setbacks, including an April 2 Israel airstrike that killed three Gazans, and which it had vowed to avenge. But firing a long-range anti-tank weapon at a clearly marked yellow school bus may have been a further miscalculation. "Red lines were crossed," Tal Russo, head of Southern Command, said on Israeli army radio. The United Nations and European Union on Friday voiced concern over the rising tensions and called on the sides to show restraint and bring an end to the latest round of fighting. Minister of Home Front Defence Matan Vilnai said Israel was locked in a "war of attrition" with Hamas. "We are taking the proper steps, defensively and offensively. Yesterday, without a doubt, there was a serious deviation with the missile fire on the (school) bus," Vilnai told Army Radio. He declined to say if operations were ceasing. Gaza militants on Thursday fired 45 rockets and mortars into Israel. Israeli forces struck targets throughout the densely populated territory, including Hamas positions, smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt and Gaza's derelict airport. Five Palestinians were killed and 30 others were injured. Hamas has again said it was interested in restoring "calm" to the front and was trying to get smaller militant groups to halt attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take all necessary action to protect its citizens, but that he hoped the "situation will be contained". During Thursday's barrage, Israel used for the first time its short-range Iron Dome interceptor. Its missiles destroyed in mid-flight a rocket heading for the city of Ashkelon. Vilnai said Israel will consider deploying further Iron Dome systems near Gaza to join the two that are currently stationed there, but hinted at budgetary restraints. Hamas, which does not recognise Israel's right to exist, seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 from forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The two wings of the Palestinian national movement remain enemies.
