Less than a week.
JERUSALEM - Police say two Palestinian rockets hit southern Israel and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office says the cease-fire that took effect last week has been broken.
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Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the first rockets to hit since the truce landed in an open area and no one was hurt. There's no word on how Israel will react.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the rocket attack, which occurred hours after Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in a West Bank raid.
The West Bank is not formally part of the Gaza truce. But the Israeli raid could be perceived as violating the spirit of the cease-fire.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) Palestinians fired a mortar into southern Israel in the first violation of a fragile truce between Israel and Gaza Strip militants, the military said Tuesday.
No casualties or damage were reported in the attack, which took place around midnight Monday, and troops did not retaliate, the military said. No militant faction immediately took responsibility.
The Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect on Thursday, with the immediate aim of ending fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians many of them civilians since the Islamic Hamas militants overran Gaza a year ago.
It also obliges Israel to ease a punishing blockade of the coastal strip. In a final stage, the sides are to address Hamas' demand to reopen a major border passage between Gaza and Egypt and Israel's insistence that Hamas release an Israeli soldier it has held for two years.
Egypt acted as middleman for the six-month truce because Israel, like much of the international community, shuns Hamas for refusing to recognize Israel or renounce violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert flew to Egypt on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The leaders are expected to discuss efforts to release the soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, and Israel's demand that Egypt crack down on arms smuggling into Gaza.
Olmert was quoted on Tuesday in the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily as saying that if the smuggling of weapons into Gaza did not end, then Israel would consider the cease-fire agreement violated, and "then we will be compelled to military action."
The cease-fire is meant to avert an Israeli invasion of Gaza, a tiny, impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people that Israel evacuated in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation. The deal extends beyond Hamas to all militant groups operating in Gaza but does not include the West Bank.
Early Tuesday, Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a raid in the West Bank town of Nablus.
A neighbor said a Palestinian bystander was also shot to death by troops when he opened the door of his apartment during the raid. The Israeli military said the man was a militant killed during a gunbattle with troops.
Islamic Jihad said the commander of its northern West Bank operations, Tarek Juma, was killed in the operation.
Juma was targeted because he was planning an attack on Israel, said a military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as is customary. The official said troops found explosive devices and munitions in his apartment at An Najah University.
Islamic Jihad vowed revenge.
"The reprisal for this noble blood will be in the depths of the Zionist entity, God willing," Islamic Jihad said in a statement from the West Bank.
In Germany, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the operation. Fayyad, whose government is trying to negotiate a peace deal with Israel, has said continuing military operations are undermining his efforts to restore law and order in the West Bank.
This was "an example of the kind of activity that has to stop and has to stop immediately and promptly if we are going to succeed in providing security to our people," said Fayyad, who is attending an international conference aimed at bolstering his security forces. "There was absolutely no exchange of information on this particular incident."
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Israel of trying to sabotage the truce.
"The resistance factions in the West Bank have the full right to respond to this crime," Barhoum said.
