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Five Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip following an offer of a ceasefire from Hamas after a surge in cross-border violence.
An attack on the southern city of Khan Younis killed two members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, which has fired missiles into Israel in response to Israel's killing of three of its members last week.
Another airstrike near Khan Younis killed three people, including a woman and her daughter, and injured others, according to Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, Nicole Johnston.
Both sides have said they hoped to avoid further violence, but an Israeli cabinet minister said the strikes would continue.
Johnston, Al Jazeera's correspondent, said Hamas "really doesn't want to risk an escalation of violence with Israel, and that is very clear simply by the fact they said they would stick to the ceasefire".
In Thursday's bus attack, Gaza fighters hit an Israeli school bus near the border with an anti-tank rocket, badly wounding the driver and a 16-year-old boy.
The al-Qassam Brigades said it had shot two missiles early in the day, one of which had hit the school bus. The Brigades said the attack came in response to Israel's killing of three of its members last week.
A senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera: "The Israelis are trying to impose a new formula in Gaza. They are trying to prevent us from taking any benefits in the region.
"They are trying to escalate the situation ... The coming few days will carry a lot of developments if things continue like this."
Israel has been using its latest cutting-edge missile-defense system for the first time since Thursday.
PHOTO CAPTION
A Palestinian is wheeled at al-Najar hospital in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah after being wounded by an Israeli shelling near the city airport, April 9, 2011.
Al-Jazeera
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