Four children killed in Gaza as death toll rises to 41

Four more children have been killed in Gaza, the Palestinian territory’s health ministry said, as days of intense fighting between Palestinian militants and Israel raged despite talks of a proposed truce.

Since an Israeli military operation targeting Islamic Jihad positions began on Friday, a total of 41 Palestinians “have been martyred, including 15 children and four women, and 311 have been injured” across the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave’s ministry said.

Israel launched the Gaza strikes on Friday in what it described as the preemption of an Islamic Jihad attack meant to avenge the arrest of a group leader in the occupied West Bank.

The hundreds of rockets fired by Islamic Jihad in response is why the operation continues, Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Saar, a member of the decision-making security cabinet, said.

The flare-up has worried world powers and prompted truce mediation by Egypt. It has been contained in part by the fact that Hamas, the governing extremist group in the impoverished and blockaded Gaza Strip, has held fire.