At least six Palestinian members of Hamas were killed today in a blast near Gaza City which the militant Islamic group blamed on Israel and vowed to avenge.
Two other Palestinians were killed in the West Bank city of Nablus during clashes which erupted during an Israeli army raid to arrest a high-ranking official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, witnesses said.
Witnesses in Gaza said a car laden with explosives blew up inside a farm in the al-Zeitun neighbourhood, known as a Hamas stronghold, just one day after a Hamas landmine gutted an Israeli tank and killed its four crewmen in north Gaza.
Hamas officials blamed the car explosion on Israel, saying they believed its members had received a package which was detonated by remote control from a pilotless drone flying in the area. The army had no immediate comment.
The boot of the vehicle had been ripped apart and blood covered the ground near a group of farm sheds surrounded by cinder block walls. Two other people were wounded in the blast.
The casualties included young men from Palestinian families known for their affiliation with Hamas, among them the brother of a gunman involved in an attack on the Atzmona Jewish settlement in Gaza over a year ago, Palestinian sources said.
"We will retaliate for their new crime, for their new terror action...It will be a very expensive price," Hamas official Mr Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi told reporters.
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, has led a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis in a 28-month-old Palestinian uprising for statehood. Today, Israeli Defence Minister Mr Shaul Mofaz vowed "to strike hard at our enemy Hamas", in response to the tank blast.
Such threats have been followed in the past by Israeli air strikes on munitions factories, house demolitions and sweeping arrests of Palestinian militants.
Israel has tracked down and killed scores of Palestinian militants it says are behind attacks on Israelis. Palestinian militants have also been killed while making bombs for use in such attacks.