Israel kills five Hamas gunmen

Israel killed five Hamas gunmen in air strikes yesterday in retaliation for a deadly Palestinian rocket barrage, resuming its assassination policy against militants as a five-month-old truce appeared to be unravelling.

The Islamic group Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, said the back-to-back missile strikes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would "open the doors of hell" on Israel, and said it was reconsidering its commitment to the ceasefire.

Palestinian gunmen have in recent days bombarded Israeli towns and military posts in and around Gaza with rockets and mortar bombs in what they said were responses to Israeli killings of militants.

An Israeli helicopter strike killed a Palestinian in the West Bank, Palestinian security sources said. Minutes later, a similar air strike killed four militants inside a car in Gaza, which Hamas officials said had carried makeshift Qassam rockets.

The Israel army said it targeted "wanted terrorists" in the West Bank strike and that the Hamas cell hit in Gaza was on the way to carry out rocket attacks.

The flare-up of violence, one of the worst since Israel and the Palestinian Authority declared an end to hostilities in February, raised the prospect of disruptions to Israel's planned pull-out of settlers from occupied Gaza next month.