Israel killed at least two Hamas militants in an air strike in the Gaza Strip today in the worst flare-up of violence since quitting the territory two weeks ago, the army and Palestinian witnesses said.
The Israeli military said the air force targeted two vehicles carrying weaponry and Hamas members.
Witnesses and relatives in the morgue identified one of the two dead men as Rawad Farhat, 17, a member of Hamas. The other, Nafez abu Hussein, 29, also belonged to Hamas.
Israeli forces massed near the border with the strip, which they left on September 12 after 38 years of occupation, and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz vowed a "crushing and unequivocal" response to militant rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
The upsurge in violence was a blow to international hopes that the pullout could revive peacemaking.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon already has a difficult week ahead. He faces a challenge in a key vote in his Likud party from right-wing opponents who have said giving up Gaza would bring more bloodshed.
Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel overnight after an explosion at a Hamas rally killed 15 people. On Friday, Israeli troops killed three gunmen in a West Bank raid.
Hamas blamed Israel for the Gaza blast, although the Palestinian Authority said it appeared to have been an accident caused by Hamas members carrying explosives in an area packed with people. Israel denied any involvement in the explosion.
In the initial Israeli air strikes, aircraft hit back after the rocket attacks which wounded five Israelis. The army said it targeted weapons factories and a rocket-launching site. One Hamas militant was slightly wounded.
Underscoring a tense atmosphere, crowds of Palestinians fled on to Gaza's streets in panic at the sound of sonic booms from Israeli jets flying overhead today.
Israeli residents of Sderot, a town close to the Gaza Strip which has been targeted by militant mortar and rocket fire, were told to remain indoors by the local authority, radios said.
Mr Mofaz, in a Defence Ministry statement, called for further strikes against Hamas and Islamic Jihad weapon-making sites in Gaza and the West Bank.