Hamas threatens revenge after deadly Israeli strike

Senior Hamas leaders have threatened revenge against Israel after air raids in the Gaza Strip killed nine people, the single highest death toll since the 2012 cross-border war.

Emergency services in Gaza confirmed only two deaths from the air strike in Rafah but four others are believed to be buried under the collapsed site. A seventh victim was reported killed in another attack.

Earlier, two other Palestinian militants were killed in a separate air attack near a refugee camp in central Gaza.

The Israeli military said the strikes were in response to at least 25 rocket and mortar attacks on Israel on Sunday. It said the air raids targeted "terror" sites and concealed rocket launchers.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, on Monday accused Israel of a "grave escalation" in violence and threatened to retaliate, saying Israel would "pay the price".

Among the dead from overnight attacks were seven fighters from the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, killed in a tunnel in Rafah, in the south of Gaza.

Moshir Almasry, a Hamas politician, said that Israel had "crossed all red lines" and warned that the deaths would fuel resistance in the occupied territories.

"The blood of our people are very dear to us," Almasry said in a post on Facebook. "Their blood was not shed in vain," he added, saying their deaths were "fuel of the intifada and the resistance".

Tensions in the region are high following the murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair last week.

On Sunday, police said they had arrested six Jewish suspects in connection with the killing. Since then, three people have confessed to murdering a Palestinian teenager whose death sparked riots in occupied East Jerusalem, the AP news agency and Israeli media have said.

An unnamed Israeli official told AP the suspects on Monday were re-enacting the killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir for authorities. Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post newspapers reported similar comments by unnamed officials.

Abu Khedeir, 16, was abducted near his home last week as he went to morning prayer, and his charred remains were found in a forest outside the city.

Israeli statement

In a statement, Israel's army said it "has succeeded in stopping another attack against Israel by targeting terrorists who are implicated in launching rockets from central Gaza".

"The target was hit," said the statement.

Fighters in Gaza have fired at least 25 rockets and mortar shells over the border since Sunday morning, after a night of 10 air strikes.

Khaled al-Balawi, 28, whose younger brother Ibrahim was among the six Hamas fighters killed, said that he wanted to see the Israelis punished for the attack.

"The bombing stopped at 1am, but nobody was able to sleep in Rafah," Khaled said in a telephone interview. "I call for an escalation to avenge for the blood of my brother and all the martyrs, I do not want ceasefire." 

Meanwhile Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, lost a close political partner on Monday after Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party, said he was dissolving his pact with Netanyahu's Likud.

During a news conference, Lieberman said the partnership "didn't go well from the beginning", but said he did not intend breaking the coalition.

Lieberman, the foreign minister, has in recent days criticised Netanyahu's response in the Gaza Strip to rockets fired into Israel, saying it does not go far enough.