ISRAEL continued their deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip today, killing a fourth Palestinian resistance fighter.

The latest killing raised the death toll from the latest burst of fighting to 25, despite reports of faltering attempts by Egypt to broker a ceasefire.

It has been the worst series of attacks by the Israelis on the Palestinians in months, which has also counted many children among the dead. 

Early on Thursday, the Israeli military carried out strikes against the Islamic Jihad resistance group and said that a senior commander in charge of the group’s rocket launching force, Ali Ghali, was killed when his apartment was hit.

Spokesman for the Israeli occupying forces Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told Israeli Army Radio that two other Palestinians were also killed in the strike, although no group immediately claimed them as members and that the rest of the building remained intact. 

Rear Admiral Hagari said. “I hope this leads to a reduction, a blow and a disruption of the Islamic Jihad rocket abilities.”

Palestinian media reports said that the strikes targeted the top floor of a building in a residential, Qatari-built complex in southern Gaza Strip, killing at least two people, including the commander. 

Islamic Jihad said Mr Ghali was a commander in charge of its rocket squad and a member of its armed group’s decision-making body. 

Late Wednesday, Egypt’s Extra News television channel, which has close ties to Egyptian security agencies, said that the Egyptian intelligence had brokered a ceasefire between the two sides. 

Israeli officials confirmed that Egypt was trying to facilitate a ceasefire. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy, they said that Israel would evaluate the situation based on actions on the ground, not declarations.

Islamic Jihad said that it would continue to retaliate against the Israeli attacks. 

Mohamad al-Hindi, an official with the group, said that a sticking point in the talks was that the Palestinians wanted an Israeli commitment to stop targeted killing operations, such as the ones that killed three top Islamic Jihad commanders early on Tuesday.

The Israeli military says that in its strikes on some 150 targets it has used so-called precision strikes on what they describe as “militants,” but children — among them a four-year-old — were also killed. 

In a televised prime-time address on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that Israel had dealt a harsh blow to the militants.

But he cautioned: “This round is not over.”