TEL AVIV: The IDF - Israel Defense Force - said on Saturday they are ready to go  for a "week of operations" against Palestinian militants, as a barrage of retaliatory rockets were fired from Gaza overnight following the targeted killing of a Palestinian militant leader.

190 rockets had been fired from the Gaza Strip since Friday, air-raid sirens sounded in many cities in southern Israel on Saturday morning, said the military spokeswoman. 

According to the Israeli military, the rockets either hit a barren area of ground or were deflected by the Iron Dome defence system.

A total of 36 rockets missed their target and landed inside the desolate coastal strip.  On Friday night, alarm sirens could be heard in a number of Tel Aviv suburbs.

On Friday, Israeli forces conducted airstrikes against a number of targets in Gaza, killing Taisir al-Jabari, a key figure in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant organisation. Israel said, the attacks against terrorist targets continued on Saturday. 

In addition to al-Jabari, more Islamic Jihad fighters and a five-year-old kid have also died since Friday, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, which also reports that 80 others have been injured.

The United States and the European Union both consider the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to be terrorist organisations. Israel claims that al-Jabari was behind a number of strikes on it that were launched from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli military operations also carried on in the West Bank, where 20 people were arrested in early morning raids on Saturday after previous operations this week.

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