Israeli strikes kill Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Nearly a week after vowing a harsher response to rocket attacks, the Israeli military overnight Monday pummeled Gaza with airstrikes that killed at least 11 Islamic Jihad militants, according to Israeli military and militant sources.

Israel Defense Forces said its initial airstrike late Monday targeted Islamic Jihad military leader Majed El Harazin, who was killed with two others when Israeli jets struck their car in Gaza City.

Around midnight, an Israeli aircraft fired at Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza City involved in preparing and launching Qassam rockets, the IDF said. Militant cell leader Karim Dahdouh was among the dead, the IDF said.

The militant group said three members of the rocket unit were killed when the warehouse was hit.

Hours later, an Israeli airstrike struck Islamic Jihad militants who were firing Qassam rockets toward Israel from the Jebalya-Beit Lahiya area, the IDF said. Three militants were killed, the group said.

In the United States, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe issued a statement supporting the airstrikes, saying, "Israelis have the right to live in a country in which there are not constant rocket attacks coming from terrorist groups in Gaza."

The IDF said at least five Qassam rockets and mortars landed near the Israeli community of Kerem Shalom on Tuesday morning. Watch as pressure mounts on Israeli leaders to stop rocket attacks from Gaza »

After the rocket attack, Israeli aircraft struck armed militants gathered near a Hamas base in southern Gaza, where the rockets had been fired at Kerem Shalom, IDF said. Hamas sources said two militants were killed.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed one Islamic Jihad militant in a gunfire exchange in Kabatiya, a village near Jenin, the IDF said.

According to the Israeli military, more than 3,600 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza into Israel since the Jewish state pulled out its troops and settlements from Gaza in 2005. The military said the number of rocket attacks has more than doubled since Hamas seized control of Gaza in June.

Last week, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi warned a stronger military operation in Gaza is increasingly likely because the limited operations have not stopped the ongoing rocket attacks.

"We will come to the point where we will have to carry out the big operation," Ashkenazi said last Wednesday.

The situation threatens to overshadow the burgeoning peace process, which was restarted after last month's peace talks in Annapolis, Maryland. There, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders pledged to negotiate a final-status agreement by the end of 2008. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Michal Zippori contributed to this report.

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