An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian activist and injured another in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, hospital officials said. Israeli sources described the men as a rocket crew.
The air strike has taken place near the Erez border crossing. According to Reuters, Palestinian medical sources said the two casualties from Tuesday's missile attack were activists. Two Palestinian rockets hit the Israeli border town of Sderot, damaging a house but causing no casualties, Israel's Army Radio reported.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Israelis and Palestinians on Tuesday to quickly resume U.S.-sponsored peace talks suspended over Israel's blitz on the Gaza Strip. "Negotiations ought to resume as soon as possible," Rice told reporters travelling with her to Cairo. She will visit later Jerusalem and the West Bank. "I will be talking about how we can get the negotiations back on track," she added.
However, Rice did not specifically demand a cease-fire. According to her, she will discuss with Egypt's foreign minister and president Mubarak how best to reduce the violence, as well as ways to secure Egypt's border with Gaza Strip. "I will certainly be discussing how we make the Rafah situation sustainable and what would mean for a role for the PA, for European monitors on that border," Rice conveyed.
She stressed any lengthy suspension of talks handed victory to Hamas. "Hamas is doing what might be expected, which is using rocket attacks on Israel to arrest a peace process in which they have nothing to gain," Rice said.
