Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in a West Bank raid and Palestinian militants fired a rocket into Israel on Thursday, rattling a cease-fire and hopes raised by a removal of Jewish settlers from occupied land.
The flare-up, which included the fatal stabbing of a British Jew by a Palestinian in Jerusalem on Wednesday, was the first since Israel finished scrapping all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank on Tuesday.
A new surge of violence would jeopardise a truce that largely held as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon carried out his "Disengagement Plan" and make it harder to capitalise on the pullout by reviving a US-backed peace "road map".
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, speaking on Israeli television, said there would be no rush to peace talks.
Defining Israel's first priority as helping 9,000 Gaza and West Bank settlers rebuild their lives, Mofaz said: "I think we should continue along the road map after the disengagement. This will not happen immediately, but after several months."
Mofaz reiterated Sharon's demand for the Palestinian Authority to "dismantle terrorist infrastructure", as stipulated by the road map, before progress can be made towards statehood.
Troops who raided Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank overnight killed five militants in a gun battle 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 Islamic Jihad.
Abbas called the raid counterproductive to peace efforts.
He accused Israel of trying to "renew a cycle of violence" to dodge talks based on the road map, which also calls on the Israeli government to freeze "all settlement activity".
"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 implementation of commitments under the road map," Abbas said in a statement.
Palestinians are concerned about Sharon's view that Israel for strategic reasons must keep its largest West Bank settlements where over 200,000 Jews live. Palestinians fear this will cost them the heartland of their desired viable state.
In a statement issued in Gaza City, Islamic Jihad said: "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.
Israel has threatened to hit back "harder than ever before" for any attacks emanating from Gaza after settlers were out.
Militant groups agreed in March on an informal "calm" at least until the end of 2005 to smooth Israel's planned pullout and give him a chance to resume peace talks.
Mofaz said Israeli military forces were expected to leave Gaza in mid-September, 38 years after Israel captured the area along with Gaza and Arab East Jerusalem, in a Middle East war.
Political sources said the cabinet would vote on Sunday on a deal reached with Egypt to replace Israeli troops along its border with Gaza with 750 special Egyptian border police to prevent arms smuggling to Palestinian militants.
Israel intends to maintain its grip over Gaza's sea lanes and air space and a presence at its main border crossing with Egypt. Palestinians say occupation in Gaza will not really end until it gains unrestricted access to the outside world.
Some 1.4 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip and 2.4 million in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The World Court has ruled all Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank are illegal. Israel disputes this.
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