THE FIVE-MONTH-OLD truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip appeared to be on the verge of collapse after another day of violent exchanges yesterday.
Palestinian militants pounded southern Israel with rockets and mortar shells after Israeli aircraft targeted a rocket-firing cell in the northern Gaza Strip, wounding two gunmen.
After emergency consultations prime minister Ehud Olmert vowed that Israel would continue to exert pressure on Hamas in Gaza until the rocket attacks stopped. He emphasised that violations of the ceasefire would not be tolerated.
Deputy prime minister Haim Ramon warned that the truce was effectively over. "The last two days are the de facto conclusion of the lull, even if there are those who refuse to recognise this," Mr Ramon said.
Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, warned Israel in a sermon in a Gaza mosque yesterday: "If you want to leave the truce, we are ready. And if you want to continue it, then abide by it." The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire came into effect in June and, despite sporadic violations, had succeeded in restoring relative calm to both Gaza and nearby Israeli communities.
However, a limited Israeli military incursion last week, during which troops destroyed a tunnel, prompted daily clashes ever since despite leaders on both sides expressing a desire to maintain the truce.
In the ensuing violence 12 Palestinians have been killed and some 150 rockets have landed in Israel.
Yesterday an Israeli was wounded and four people suffered shock when eight rockets slammed into Sderot, the closest Israel town to Gaza. Longer-range Grad-Katyusha rockets hit the town of Ashkelon, 15km north of the border. Residents in rocket range of Gaza were told to stay indoors.
The surge in violence has prompted Israel to keep the border crossings into Gaza closed for 10 consecutive days.
On Thursday a convoy of 30 trucks carrying emergency humanitarian supplies was turned back by Israeli troops at the border.
John Ging, the local head of the UN Relief and Works Agency, said that his organisation had been forced to stop distributing food to some 750,000 Gaza residents.
Some areas of Gaza have suffered electricity cuts in recent days and there are also reports of essential foodstuffs, such as flour, running short.