Gaza militants fire rockets into Israel

Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel on Wednesday, the second day of a spike in cross-border violence, sending people rushing to shelters as sirens sounded, although there were no reports of casualties. The worst fighting in months began on Tuesday after Israel killed in Gaza a top commander of the Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group backed by Iran, accusing him of masterminding recent attacks against Israel.

In response, Islamic Jihad gunmen fired about 200 rockets into Israel throughout the day. Further Israeli airstrikes on the militant group's targets in Gaza killed eight more Palestinians. It appeared that Hamas, the main militant group that rules Gaza, was staying out of the fighting for now. A diplomatic source told Reuters the U.N. Middle East envoy was on his way to Cairo to begin mediation to end the violence.