GAZA CITY, Oct 28: Israel launched fresh air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Friday after its defence minister dismissed the Palestinian leadership as a partner for peace and ruled out any foreseeable prospect of a Palestinian state.

After multiple strikes overnight and repeated sonic booms, the air force carried out three raids on fields used by militants in northern Gaza to fire rockets into Israel.

The militants hit back, firing one rocket and a mortar round into Israel causing no casualties or damage, a day after an Israeli air raid killed six civilians and two Islamic Jihad militants.

In an echo of Israel’s stand against the late Yasser Arafat, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the current Palestinian leadership was unable to clamp down on militants and therefore no partner for peace.

“I doubt very much that one day we can reach a peace accord with the present leadership of the Palestinians. We must wait for the next generation,” the Yediot Aharonot daily quoted him as saying.

“I don’t think a Palestinian state will see the light of day in the coming years,” he added.

Mr Mofaz, a close ally of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was speaking two days after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber killed five Israelis outside a falafel stand in the town of Hadera.—AFP