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| By israelinsider staff and partners December 8, 2005 |
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An Israeli airstrike Thursday killed two Palestinian terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip and a Palestinian man fatally stabbed an Israeli soldier in the West Bank, intensifying a new round of violence in the wake of a suicide bombing at an Israeli mall this week.
With tensions rising, Israel suspended talks to open a road linking the West Bank and Gaza, just a week before the "safe passage" for Palestinians was to open. This drew angry criticism from the Palestinians, who accused Israel of violating an agreement brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Israel promised tough retaliation for Monday's suicide attack, which killed five people in the coastal city of Netanya.
On Thursday afternoon, an Israeli aircraft launched missiles at a group of militants from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades holed up in a house near the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya, Palestinian witnesses and health officials said.
The strike killed Iyad Nasser, 27, and Iyad Qaddas, 21, hospital officials said. Six others were wounded, including an 11-year-old girl, hospital officials said.
The army said Qaddas was involved in numerous attacks on Israelis, including suicide bombings.
A spokesman for Al Aqsa, a terror group linked to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, vowed revenge, and angry Palestinian officials said Israel would bear responsibility for its actions. A separate Israeli airstrike on Wednesday killed a senior militant in southern Gaza.
"This Israeli action is going to sabotage the efforts made by the Palestinian Authority to maintain calm and to revive the peace process," Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfik Abu Khoussa said.
The AP contributed to this report.
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