Islamic Jihad rockets hit Israel after W. Bank raid

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Islamic Jihad fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday after Israel killed five militants in the occupied West Bank, in renewed violence that threatened prospects for an Egyptian-brokered truce.

No one was injured by the salvo against the border town of Sderot, the first such attack by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction, since March 5.

Israel, which had not struck in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in a week, said it carried out two air strikes against rocket launchers in the northern Gaza Strip. No one was hurt.

The Israeli army said militants fired at least 22 rockets on Thursday.

Islamic Jihad had vowed revenge after Israeli troops killed four of its members in the West Bank on Wednesday. The fifth man belonged to al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah.

Israel has rebuffed Hamas's call for the West Bank to be included in any ceasefire arrangement.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the operations showed that Israel would continue to "pursue and attack all murderers with blood on their hands and their dispatchers".

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke at the Islamic Summit in Senegal, demanded that Israel stop what he called "disproportionate and excessive force" against Palestinians.