The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement (PIJ) on Sunday confirmed the killing of one of its senior armed commanders in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip.
"Al-Quds Brigades (Jerusalem Brigades) mourns the leader Khaled Mansour, member of the security council and the commander of the southern region (of Gaza Strip) who was martyred as a result of an Israeli air strike yesterday (Saturday)," the group said in a statement, Reuters reported.
Al-Quds Brigades is the armed wing of the group.
Israeli aircraft struck in Gaza and Palestinians fired rockets deep into Israel on Saturday, a day after an Israeli operation against the militant group set off a cross-border flare-up that ended more than a year of relative calm.
Islamic Jihad fired rocket salvoes as far as Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, after Israel killed Mansour in a surprise daytime air strike on a Gaza City tower on Friday.
Palestinian militants fired at least 200 rockets at Israel - most of them intercepted, setting off air raids sirens and sending people running to bomb shelters.
Egypt said it was engaged in intensive talks to calm the situation. Further escalation would largely depend on whether Hamas, the movement which controls Gaza, would opt to join the fighting.
