Israel air strike kills Gaza missile commander

STORY: Explosions light up the night sky over Gaza and Israel on Wednesday, as Palestinian militants launched more than 400 rockets at Israel.

But many missiles fell short of their targets as they were seemingly intercepted by Israel’s missile defenses.

Israel says its own barrage of rockets though, were deadly enough.

The Israeli military claimed it hit more than 130 targets overnight, including rocket-launching sites run by Gaza’s militant groups.

It also claimed to kill the chief of Islamic Jihad’s rocket-launching force – a commander by the name of Ali Ghali.

Medics in Gaza City rushed casualties of the late-night bombing to hospital.

An old woman was seen visibly upset outside what apparently was her family home, which was allegedly hit by Israeli strikes. Ordinary Palestinians expressed a sense of loss.

“We no longer know where to go to, to escape the bombing.”

It marks a second round of cross-border fire in a week.

On Tuesday, Israel launched strikes against three other Islamic Jihad commanders.

While the Iranian-backed group last week fired hundreds of rockets at Israel, following the death of an Israeli Jihad hunger striker in Israeli custody.

At least two dozen Palestinians, including five women and five children, have been killed since the fighting began, according to Palestinian health authorities.

On Wednesday, Egypt began efforts to mediate an end to the fighting after months of escalating violence, according to the Islamic Jihad.

Israel said it was examining Egypt’s proposals.