GAZA CITY, Sept 26: Israel launched more air strikes in Gaza on Monday despite Hamas saying it would halt rocket attacks. The Israeli air force conducted six overnight raids and bombed a field used as a missile launch site by militants in an upsurge of violence that has put in doubt an expected summit between Mr Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

Desperate to deflect accusations from his leadership rival Binyamin Netanyahu that his decision to pull troops out of Gaza a fortnight ago had bolstered Hamas, Mr Sharon’s camp said the air strikes and a series of mass arrests had forced militants into a climbdown.

Gaza-based militants had fired dozens of rockets into Israel over the weekend, with the Palestinian Authority doing little to stop the barrage.

After an embarrassed Sharon gave his army carte blanche to stop the attacks, Hamas announced on Sunday that its fighters would hold their fire.

“Under our commitment to the national agreement made in Cairo to a cooling down period until the end of 2005, the movement announces it has stopped its operations from the Gaza Strip against the Zionist occupation,” Mahmud Zahar, the Hamas leader in its Gaza stronghold, said.

His announcement, however, did not prevent a further six overnight raids on targets that the Israeli army said were used to manufacture or store weapons.

Israeli jets repeatedly broke the sound barrier over Gaza City and the air force bombed an open field in northern Gaza which it said had been used to fire rockets.—AFP