UN calls for immediate halt to Gaza violence

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is "extremely concerned" about the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and urged an extension of a recently ended truce, his office said Friday.
"The Secretary-General is extremely concerned at statements calling into question the continuation of the Egyptian-brokered calm in and around Gaza," his press office said in a statement.
"A major escalation of violence would have grave consequences for the protection of civilians in Israel and Gaza, the welfare of the Gazan civilian population and the sustainability of political efforts."
Ban reiterated his appeal that "the calm should be respected and extended, rocket attacks against Israel must be immediately halted and all acts of violence must cease," his office said.
Shortly after the armed wing of Hamas formally announced that the six-month truce with Israel was over, the smaller Islamic Jihad group said it fired three rockets at southern Israel, which caused no reported damage or casualties.
Violence has escalated for the past several weeks in the run-up to the end of the ceasefire. Militants fired nine rockets Thursday toward southern Israel that caused no damage or victims after Israeli forces carried out five air strikes and killed one Palestinian Wednesday.
Israel responded to violence that erupted in early November by tightening sanctions and closing its crossing points with Gaza, halting deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Washington Friday with US President George W. Bush, set to leave office on January 20 without the Middle East peace deal he had hoped to broker by the end of the year.
On Tuesday, the UN Security Council adopted a US-Russian draft resolution calling on both parties "to fulfil their obligations... and refrain from any steps that could undermine confidence or prejudice the outcome of negotiations."
Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed one Palestinian and wounded three others in an air raid on the Gaza Strip on Saturday, a day after the end of a shaky six-month truce, medical sources and witnesses said.
The attack, which came amid UN and US calls for calm, took place near the northern town of Jabalya when a warplane fired three missiles at militants preparing to launch rockets on Israel, witnesses said.
Medics named the dead man as Ali Hijazi, 22. He and two of the wounded, one seriously hurt, were said to be members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
A civilian was also wounded.
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the attack, saying it was launched after two rockets were fired on southern Israel without causing any casualties.
On Friday, militants fired four rockets at Israel.
Tensions have been surging in and around Gaza all week after Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the besieged Palestinian enclave, said it would not extend the truce with Israel and warned they would respond to any attack.