Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired more than 35 rockets
towards Israel, the army and the Islamist group said, hours after
the Israeli army killed six militants in the coastal
territory.
An Israeli police spokesman said the rockets landed in southern
Israel, causing no damage or injuries.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks, the first such
announcement by the Islamist group since an Egyptian-brokered
ceasefire with Israel went into effect on June 19.
Palestinian officials said they had been informed by Israel that
all commercial border crossings with the Gaza Strip would remain
closed on Wednesday in response to the rocket attacks.
Israeli airstrikes killed five militants and Israeli soldiers shot
dead a gunman during an incursion into the Gaza Strip on
Tuesday.
The army said it launched the airstrikes after militants attacked
soldiers who entered the Gaza Strip to destroy a tunnel that Hamas
had planned to use to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
The latest violence could jeopardise Egyptian efforts to extend the
fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and further complicate Cairo's
efforts to secure the release of an Israeli soldier kidnapped by
Hamas two years ago.
Hamas has said it would release soldier Gilad Shalit in return for
hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel for their involvement in
violent attacks against Israeli civilians during a Palestinian
uprising.
Israel has agreed in principle to a prisoner exchange deal with
Hamas but Israeli officials have had reservations about the idea of
releasing prisoners "with blood on their hands."
Also at stake are efforts by the Arab world to reconcile the
Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions during a summit in Cairo next
week.
Relations between the two rivals soured two years ago when Hamas
won a parliamentary election.
A year later, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah
forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas who holds sway in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas opposes Abbas's peace talks with Israel that Washington
launched a summit in Annapolis, Maryland, last year with the hope
of shepherding the two sides towards a deal before President George
Bush leaves office in January.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in the region on
Thursday in a bid to salvage the peace process that has so far
shown little signs of a breakthrough.
President elect Barack Obama has said resolving the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be a top priority for his
administration.
