Israel mounts new strikes in Gaza after attacks

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched missile strikes in Gaza on Tuesday, targeting buildings it said were used by militants in response to renewed Palestinian rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

The flare-up of violence -- one of the worst since Israel quit the Gaza Strip last month -- followed Israel's killing of a top Islamic Jihad militant in the occupied West Bank and threatened to unravel an eight-month-old cease-fire.

The Palestinian Authority said it had deployed forces near launching sites overnight to stop rocket attacks.

Both Israeli and Palestinian security sources said firing by militants ultimately ceased.

Israel, whose Gaza pullout after 38 years of occupation raised Middle East peace hopes, launched its latest air strikes before dawn following similar strikes and artillery fire at militant targets late on Monday. The air strikes were the first since last month.

A Palestinian woman and her two daughters were wounded in one of the Israeli strikes, medics said. The strikes destroyed two buildings linked to Islamic Jihad and militants from President Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah party.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-10-25T095120Z_01_KNE535461_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST.xml

That seems to be the advice the Israelis are being given.