Israeli air strikes yesterday killed a Palestinian militant, prompting mortar fire into southern Israel just days after armed groups agreed to a temporary truce.
Heightened tensions in and around the Gaza border raised fears of a fresh descent into violence scarcely 48 hours after militant factions agreed to end rocket fire on southern Israel on condition the air force also stopped its raids.
Ismael al-Ismar, 34, a leader in the Al Quds Brigades -- the armed wing of Islamic Jihad -- died when a missile ploughed into his car in the southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, witnesses and the militant group said.
Several hours after Ismar's death, two mortar shells hit the Eshkol region, which flanks the Israel-Gaza border, Israeli police said, in an attack claimed by the Al Quds Brigades.
The flare-up prompted Israel's Home Front command to order all residents living within rocket-range of the border to stay "within 15 seconds" of the nearest bomb shelter, media reports said.
The exchanges raised questions over the durability of a ceasefire agreement announced late Sunday following four days of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, which killed 15 Palestinians and an Israeli.
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