Gaza militants fire rockets into Israel

Palestinian militants fired two rockets at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Thursday, breaching a cease-fire for a second time.

The truce, reached with Egyptian mediation between Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls the strip, has largely held since it took effect June 19, but sporadic violations by other groups are threatening to unravel it, much like previous agreements.

Israel has responded by shutting the Gaza border crossings to the passage of goods, and Hamas has scrambled to rein in the groups. But a prolonged closing of the border and more rocket attacks could hasten a slide back to armed confrontation.

After Thursday’s rocket strike, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called for retaliation. “Israel needs to respond immediately, militarily, to every such violation,” she said.

Responsibility for the rocket attack was claimed by Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group linked to a Hamas rival, the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The group said it had fired two rockets, but the Israeli army said it identified only one impact, which caused no damage or casualties.

Abu Qusai, an Al Aqsa spokesman, said that the rockets were fired “in response to Israeli violations” and said that the truce should apply to the West Bank too.

An Israeli raid in the West Bank on Tuesday killed two Palestinians, one of them an Islamic Jihad commander, triggering rocket fire by the group from Gaza that lightly wounded two Israelis.