Two more Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike near the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza City on Friday night, in an escalation of violence that has followed the killing of a high profile Palestinian militant commander.
A Palestinian health spokesman on Saturday said that 12 militants have been killed in total.
The killing also unleashed a barrage of rockets by furious Palestinian militants from the coastal territory toward Israel's southern border communities.
One of those rockets seriously wounded an Israeli civilian and sent families scattering into bomb shelters.
The Palestinian militants were killed in seven airstrikes overnight and on Saturday morning, said Gaza health spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya.
He said some 20 more civilians were wounded by flying shrapnel from the exploding missiles, some of which targeted militants deep in civilian areas of the crowded territory.
Earlier on Friday night, an Israeli air strike in Gaza City killed two militants it claimed were about to launch rockets, and after midnight, Palestinian officials said another four were killed in and around Gaza City.
The chain of violence began after a midday air strike by Israeli forces killed Zuhair al-Qaissi, the commander of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committee, a large militant group closely aligned with Gaza's Hamas rulers.
The group is mostly known for carrying out the 2006 abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit Gilad Schalit, who was held captive for more than five years and freed in a prisoner swap for more than 1,000 Palestinians.
The Israeli military said al-Qaissi was plotting an infiltration attack into Israel similar to the one he orchestrated in August from the Sinai peninsula that killed eight Israelis and injured 40 more.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli drones were seen hovering above just moments before al-Qaissi's vehicle burst into flames.
