Palestinian militants launched about 250 rockets and mortars into southern Israel from Gaza on Saturday, and the Israeli military responded with airstrikes and tank fire against targets across the Palestinian territory, as tensions along the volatile border boiled over and a fragile cease-fire faltered again.

Four Palestinians — including one militant, another man, a pregnant woman and her young daughter — were killed in Israeli strikes on Saturday, according to Gaza Health Ministry officials. That brought the total number of Gazans fatally struck by Israeli fire since Friday to eight.

One Israeli woman was severely wounded by shrapnel, according to Israel’s emergency services, as Gaza militant groups broadened their range of fire on Saturday afternoon, striking Kiryat Gat, an Israeli city about 20 miles northeast of the Palestinian enclave. An Israeli man was wounded by shrapnel in the city of Ashkelon.

The Israeli military said it had struck scores of targets belonging to Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, and Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed extremist group that sometimes works in concert with Hamas and sometimes challenges its authority.

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