MIDDLE EAST:Islamic Jihad has vowed to renew suicide attacks after the Israeli military killed 13 Palestinian militants, most of them members of the radical Palestinian group, in a series of aerial attacks carried out yesterday in less than 24 hours in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Israeli leaders, however, made it clear Israel would not let up in its targeting of militants, in an effort to deter them from firing rockets at communities inside Israel.
In the most deadly and sustained aerial assault in months, Israeli aircraft targeted members of Islamic Jihad, which has been responsible for many of the rocket firings, killing the groups most senior commander as he drove a car in the coastal strip.
Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak commended the army for what he termed "successful operations", but at the same time cautioned that Israelis "must be prepared for possible retaliation from the other side".
Deputy prime minister Haim Ramon told Army Radio: "I can tell you that targeted killings in the West Bank have led to a drastic drop in terror attacks . . . and in the Gaza Strip it certainly reduces the number of rockets fired into Israel."
Seven Islamic Jihad militants were killed in two strikes on Monday night, including one on a car carrying Majed al-Harazeen, the group's most senior commander.
Islamic Jihad confirmed that another four of its members were killed yesterday after leaving a mosque in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. Two Hamas security men were also killed yesterday in an Israeli strike on their post in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
Militant leaders turned off their cell phones for fear they were being tracked for assassination by Israel, but at the same time vowed to retaliate.
Thousands of people attending Harazeen's funeral chanted the word "vengeance". In a statement Islamic Jihad said "the assassination will unleash a wave of martyr operations", the term used for suicide attacks.
Seven rockets were fired yesterday by militants into Israel, causing minor property damage but no injuries. The assassination strikes follow a rocket attack earlier this week in which an Israeli toddler was lightly injured in a community in southern Israel.
The spike in violence comes just days after Israel and the Palestinians officially relaunched long-moribund peace talks and just a day after donor countries pledged billions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians.
While Israel is talking to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, it has termed Gaza, where Hamas seized control earlier this year, an "enemy entity."
The ongoing rocket fire has prompted growing speculation of a sweeping Israeli operation deep inside Gaza in the coming months.