The violence rocking Gaza, Israel and the West Bank has left scores dead

 After another night of intense bombardment by Israeli forces, Palestinians and Israelis on Friday surveyed a landscape marred by violence that has spread from the West Bank to Israel to Gaza and back to the West Bank, leaving scores dead, mostly Palestinians.

Most of the death and destruction have occurred in Gaza, the already impoverished territory, where officials said more than 120 people had died, including 31 children, scores of buildings were destroyed, and electricity water were running critically short.

More than 2,000 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza this week, and eight Israelis, including a soldier, have been killed, Israeli officials said on Friday.

A Hamas spokesman told on Friday that the group was open to a “calming” of hostilities, and that Egypt and Qatar were leading efforts to mediate with Israel.

But the rocket barrage appeared to slow overnight, as Israeli jets and drones once again pounded targets in the territory, joined for the first time by artillery stationed at its perimeter. Israeli forces said their main target was the tunnel network used by Hamas to move people and weapons, and they claimed to have killed 75 Hamas operatives since Monday.

Israel deployed as many as 160 aircraft at a time in the overnight attacks, a military spokesman said. Early Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “This operation will continue as long as it takes to restore peace and security to the state of Israel.”

The Israeli strikes continued early Saturday, with one killing seven people in a house in Gaza City, news agencies reported.

Violence had erupted in several places on the West Bank on Friday, as Israeli soldiers fired on demonstrators, some of whom threw stones and lit fires. Palestinian officials said 11 people had been killed.

Fighting flared again overnight in Israeli towns where Muslims and Jews have coexisted for years, but now eye each other fearfully. That violence, with assaults and arson on both sides, has been the most surprising turn and, to many Israelis, the most troubling.