Tensions flare as Israeli raid kills 5 Palestinians

Troops who raided Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank late Wednesday, killed five militants in a gunbattle after they resisted arrest for suspected involvement in two suicide bombings in Israel this year, the Israeli Army said.

Palestinian witnesses said three of the dead were unarmed teenagers and two were militants, one from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, and the other from the Islamic Jihad.

The Islamic Jihad vowed revenge, saying: ‘‘The enemy should prepare coffins because we will respond quickly and decisively in the depths of the Zionist entity.’’

Shortly afterwards, a rocket fired from North Gaza crashed near the Israeli town of Sderot, causing no damage or injuries, in an attack claimed by the Popular Resistance Committees, made up primarily of former Fatah members.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the raid as counterproductive to peace efforts. He accused Israel of trying to ‘‘renew a cycle of violence’’ to dodge talks based on a peace ‘‘road map’’ to Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza.

‘‘I call on Palestinians not to respond to provocations by Israel, so as not to give it a pretext to escalate its aggression … and avoid the implementation of commitments under the road map,’’ he said in a statement.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking on Israeli television, said there would be no rush to peace talks. Instead, he defined Israel’s first priority as helping 9,000 Gaza and West Bank settlers rebuild their lives.

On Wednesday, a Palestinian stabbed to death a 22-year-old ultra-Orthodox British Jew and wounded a friend in Jerusalem’s walled Old City. Police said the attack was motivated by nationalism and the assailant was being sought.

Militant groups agreed in talks with Abbas in March on ‘‘calm’’, at least until end-2005, to smooth Israel’s planned pullout and give Abbas a chance to resume talks with Israel.

The truce, while greatly reducing violence overall, has been uneven, with both sides blaming each other for breaking the quiet.

—Reuters