Israeli strike kills militant in Gaza

Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed at least one Palestinian, prompting mortar fire into southern Israel just days after armed groups agreed to a temporary truce. The exchange of fire across the Gaza border raised fears of a fresh descent into violence scarcely 48 hours after militant factions agreed to end rocket attacks on southern Israel on condition the air force also stopped its raids. Ismael al-Ismar, 34, a leader in the Al Quds Brigades -- the armed wing of Islamic Jihad -- died when a missile ploughed into his car in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, witnesses and the militant group said. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the strike, saying it had targeted "an activist linked to Islamic Jihad who was implicated in attempted terrorist actions in the Sinai." Israeli public radio linked Ismar to last week's attacks on southern Israel's border with Egypt which killed eight Israelis. "(He) financed the attack in the south of the country last week and was responsible for financing a major attack that terrorists were planning to carry out in the near future," it reported. Several hours after Ismar's death, two mortar shells hit the Eshkol region, which flanks the Israel-Gaza border, Israeli police said. Al Quds Brigade claimed the attack and said it had fired six shells towards the Kissufim border crossing, in response to Ismar's killing. Immediately afterwards, the air force hit "two terrorists who had fired rockets at Israel," the army said in a raid which Palestinian medics said moderately wounded two Islamic Jihad militants near Deir al-Balah. Palestinian medics later reported finding the body of Ismael Amoum, 65, in the same area. They said his body was blown to pieces, suggesting he may have been caught in the strikes. The exchanges raised questions over the durability of a ceasefire announced Sunday following four days of Israeli-Palestinian clashes, which killed 15 Palestinians and an Israeli. Gaza's Hamas government accused Israel of violating the unwritten deal with its latest air strikes and called for UN intervention. "Such aggressive behaviour confirms that Israel has no true intention of maintaining the truce and insists on escalating the situation," Hamas said in a statement. "We call upon the international community and the United Nations in particular to pressure Israel to stop its aggression against our people." The Egyptian-brokered truce was agreed to by Gaza's main militant groups including Hamas, Islamic Jihad. On Monday the Popular Resistance Committees also agreed to abide by it. Several hours later, four rockets were fired over the border, but Israel did not respond. The press attributed it to "small terror groups looking to challenge Hamas and demonstrate their independence." Another rocket fired from Gaza landed in Egypt and wounded a woman, the official Egyptian MENA news agency reported. In light of Wedenesday's exchanges, Israeli public radio said, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again convened his 15-member security cabinet, which only two days ago agreed to limit Israel's response to hitting anyone poised to fire rockets over the Gaza border. It said military chief of staff General Benny Gantz and other security officials briefed ministers on the latest events, saying they believed Hamas was trying to enforce the truce and that Islamic Jihad's fire on Wednesday morning was a response to the Israeli strike on Ismar. The radio also quoted an unnamed military source as saying Gantz had ordered increased personnel and intelligence systems along the Israel-Egypt border and adding that while it had in the past been considered a peaceful frontier that assessment would now have to change. Netanhyahu's office declined to confirm whether a meeting took place. The secretive committee's meeting are not routinely listed by the cabinet office. Last Thursday's ambushes sparked a wave of tit-for-tat attacks in which Israeli air strikes killed 15 Gazans, 12 of them militants, the army said. Armed factions in Gaza lobbed more than 100 rockets and mortar shells across the border, killing a man. During the hunt for Thursday's attackers, Cairo said five of its policemen had been shot dead by Israeli troops and has since reportedly put huge pressure on the Jewish state to curb its response in Gaza.