GAZA CITY, March 11: New Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed three Palestinians on Sunday, raising the death toll in a latest round of violence to 18, as over 120 rockets were allegedly fired into Israel.

Hamas said it was talking with Egyptian officials in a bid to reach a truce with Israel, but warned that it expected the Jewish state to hold fire first and that talks had so far been unproductive.

The comments suggested little hope of a quick end to the clashes, which began on Friday afternoon with Israel’s killing of the chief of the Popular Resistance Committees group, and quickly spiralled into tit-for-tat violence.

As the conflict entered its third day, Israeli war planes carried out a string of air strikes, killing three people.

Among the dead were 12-year-old Ayub Asaliya, killed on his way to school in Jabaliya refugee camp, and 60-year-old Adel Saleh al-Issi, who medics said was a civilian. It was unclear if the third fatality, Ahmed Salim, was a civilian or not.

But after more than 48 hours of fighting, Israel’s top military officer said there would be no end in sight while rockets continued to rain down on southern Israel.

“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has been responding, and will continue to do so with strength and determination against any firing of rockets at Israel,” said Chief of Staff Lt-Gen Benny Gantz.—AFP