U.N. chief calls on Israel to halt "excessive force"

DAKAR (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel on Thursday to halt attacks using "disproportionate and excessive force" against Palestinians.

"Israel's disproportionate and excessive use of force has killed and injured many civilians including children ... I condemn these actions and call on Israel to cease such acts," Ban told an Islamic summit in Senegal's capital Dakar.

Renewed violence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank have threatened prospects for an Egyptian-brokered truce.

Islamic Jihad fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.

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 for a week, attacked a rocket launcher in the town of Beit Hanoun from the air after Sderot was hit. No one was hurt.

Islamic Jihad had vowed revenge after Israeli troops killed four of its members in the West Bank on Wednesday.

Hamas said Israeli "aggression" risked destroying Cairo's efforts to mediate a ceasefire, seen as key to securing enough quiet for there to be progress in U.S.-sponsored peace talks between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

But Hamas, which is seeking reopening of the territory's borders as part of a truce deal, stopped short of abandoning the ceasefire talks in which Islamic Jihad also has participated.