GAZA, May 18: Israel launched an air strike against Gaza Strip militants shelling Jewish settlements on Wednesday, in a surge of violence straining an already tenuous truce. The Hamas said the shelling of settlements was an attempt to avenge the death of one of its fighters.

The fighting could complicate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate Gaza. A new poll showed Israeli public support for a pullout has slipped, though a clear majority still favours it. “If the Palestinian Authority does not take the necessary steps to stop these launches, we will, with everything that entails,” an Israeli official said.

It was the worst Gaza violence since the Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire took hold in February, and began with the pre-dawn death of a Hamas man along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Another militant was seriously hurt in the Israeli missile strike. The Israeli army said he was part of a squad that had been firing rockets or mortars into a Jewish settlement.

The Israeli air attack was the first against Gaza militants since Hamas and other armed factions agreed to a ceasefire after a Feb 8 summit between Mr Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declaring an end to four years of hostilities. The circumstances of the Hamas man’s death were disputed. Hamas said he was killed during a patrol when a grenade or explosive device was launched by soldiers.

The Israeli army said its forces could not have been behind his death because they did not fire explosive devices during a brief exchange with militants. An army spokesman suggested a bomb the man was trying to plant may have detonated prematurely. —Reuters