GAZA/RAMALLAH, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- A spokesman of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement in Gaza said on Monday that Egypt is exerting efforts to defuse a growing tension between the Palestinian factions and Israel in the Gaza Strip.
"The Egyptian side carries on with its efforts to stop the current Israeli military aggression on the Gaza Strip," said Mosab al-Briem, spokesman of PIJ in Gaza, adding that "contacts with the Egyptians are going on."
Tension between Israel and the Palestinian factions, mainly the PIJ, has started on Sunday after the Israeli army shot dead a PIJ militant in east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, close to the borders with Israel.
The tension between the two sides has mounted after social media activists published a short video showing an Israeli army bulldozer was pulling the body of the dead PIJ militant.
Later on Sunday evening, the group claimed responsibility for firing rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel in response to the killing of Mohammad Naem, one of its militants in eastern Gaza Strip.
Israeli war jets carried out on Sunday night intensive airstrikes that targeted posts and facilities that belong to the PIJ in northern, eastern and southern Gaza Strip.
Medical sources in Gaza said that six Palestinians were injured, including one seriously, in two Israeli army airstrikes on eastern Gaza city and southern Gaza Strip. Severe damage was caused to several houses in the area.
While Israeli warplanes were striking the group's posts and facilities in the Gaza Strip, other Israeli army's warplanes targeted a base that belongs to the PIJ in south of Damascus in Syria, said the group's statement.
The statement added that two PIJ members and four other guards were killed in the airstrike on the group's base in Syria.
During Monday, PIJ militants resumed firing dozens of rocket barrages from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. Sirens were triggered in southern Israel, while Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system intercepted the rockets.
In light of the growing tension in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli government officials announced that waging a large-scale military operation in Gaza has become imminent.
Al-Briem said that "the success of any effort for calm or cease-fire is related to stopping the Israeli occupation's aggression on the Gaza Strip."
He warned that if the aggression doesn't stop, the militant groups, including the PIJ, will intensify rockets firing and expand the operation of firing rockets into larger areas into Israel.
Israeli army's reconnaissance drones are hovering above the Gaza Strip, where more Israeli army airstrikes are expected in response to rockets firing attacks into southern Israel.
Tension is still going on in the Gaza Strip, while Netanyahu is preparing for the parliamentary elections that are scheduled to be held in Israel for the third time in a year on March 2.
In the West Bank, Palestinian security sources said that the Israeli army forces arrested 35 Palestinians, including senior leaders in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas-led Fatah Party overnight in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoner's Club Association said in a press statement that among those arrested overnight and earlier on Monday, 20 Palestinians were from cities all over the West Bank.
The statement added that among them, there were three senior Fatah leaders arrested in the cities of Jericho and Hebron.
It added that 15 other Palestinians were arrested in the town of Easaweyeh in East Jerusalem. All the 35 were arrested after the Israeli army forces stormed their homes.
