Israel launched multiple missile strikes in Gaza today hours after the main Palestinian militant group Hamas said it would stop attacks on the Jewish state.
The attacks come as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon battled to fend off a rightist leadership challenge in his Likud party.
Likud's Central Committee began voting on a motion by his rival Benjamin Netanyahu to advance a party primary election to November in protest at Mr Sharon's removal of soldiers and settlers from Gaza this month after 38 years of occupation.
A weekend barrage of rockets into Israel from Gaza appeared to have strengthened Mr Netanyahu, who argued that leaving Gaza would encourage more violence. Mr Sharon's tough response could help shore up his position at the last moment, however.
The latest poll showed Likud support for Mr Netanyahu rising to 50.7 per cent, with 42.3 per cent against. Only 6.9 per cent remained undecided, not enough to shift the outcome in Mr Sharon's favour. Earlier polls forecast a result too close to call.
Mr Sharon's aides said he could quit Likud and forge a new centrist bloc if he loses today's ballot, which he called the handiwork of "radical extremists". Most Israelis backed withdrawal from Gaza.
An early primary, sought by hardliners who say the rapid exit from Gaza trampled on Likud's nationalist covenant, would probably advance the next general election to as early as February from its scheduled date in November 2006.
The Central Committee voting was to finish this evening, with results expected several hours afterwards.
The worst rise in violence since the September 12th completion of Israel's "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip punctured a fragile seven-month-old truce as well as putting pressure on Mr Sharon.
Earlier today, Israeli aircraft attacked at least five buildings that the army said were used by Hamas and other militant groups across Gaza for making or storing weapons. One woman was lightly wounded by shrapnel.
An Israeli jet fighter also fired two rockets into an empty field in north Gaza in what the army called a preventive measure against militants creeping into position to fire rockets.
Troops arrested 90 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in the West Bank, adding to 200 picked up in a weekend sweep.
Hamas, the most powerful militant group, yesterday called a halt to rocket attacks that it had said avenged the deaths of 16 people in a blast at a Hamas parade. Hamas blamed the explosion on Israel, though the army denied a role; the Palestinian Authority said it was an accident on the part of Hamas.
Hamas's most senior leader in Gaza, Mahmoud al-Zahar, said it had decided to halt attacks to ensure the safety of Palestinians.
Most Palestinians want a peaceful Gaza to rebuild a ruined economy and make it a proving ground for a Palestinian state. Preparing to run in a January parliamentary poll for the first time, Hamas does not want to be blamed for a relapse into all-out fighting.
Mr Sharon has said Israel will go to statehood talks with Palestinians only if they disarm militants, which they are meant to start under a US-backed peace road map.