Bangladesh, Nov. 14 -- Israeli aircraft struck Islamic Jihad targets throughout the Gaza Strip on Wednesday while the militant group rained scores of rockets into Israel for a second straight day as the heaviest round of fighting in months showed no signs of ending. The death toll rose to 32 Palestinians, including a 7-year-old boy and two other minors.

The dead included six Palestinians from a single family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike at their house in Deir al-Balah town, central Gaza Strip, early Thursday, the health ministry said. It was the deadliest incident since the beginning of the current fighting.

The U.N.'s Mideast envoy, Nickolay Mladenov, rushed to Cairo to work with Egyptian mediators on arranging a truce. An I...