Islamic Jihad on Thursday pledged that if Israel halted its air strikes on Gaza, its militants would stop firing rockets into southern Israel, a spokesman told AFP.
"If Israel stops its attacks, the Palestinian resistance will stop firing rockets," said Daoud Shihab after 24 hours of Israeli air strikes targeting the faction left at least two of its militants dead.
"We don't want an escalation but if there is any Israeli aggression there will be an answer," he said, blaming Israel for sparking the latest round of bloodshed by assassinating one of its leaders in a strike on Rafah on Wednesday morning.
The truce announced on Sunday night by Gaza's Hamas rulers had been respected by militant groups until Israel chose to break it by hitting a car in the southern city of Rafah, killing 34-year old Jihad militant Ismail al-Ismar, he said.
Since that strike early on Wednesday, militants have fired at least 20 rockets into Israel and another seven Palestinians have been killed in subsequent Israeli air raids, raising to eight the total killed in the last 36 hours.
"The last targeting in Rafah started the new crisis, Israel broke the truce when they killed one of the local leaders of the Al-Quds Brigades. After that, the Brigades answered this aggression," Shihab told AFP, saying a one-sided truce would not work.
"The truce is related to Israel action. If Israel stops their operations, Palestinian resistance will stop firing rockets."
Israel's air strikes on the factions would not silence them, he said.
"Israel will not succeed in imposing a new equation when they start shelling and killing -- the Palestinian people will not accept this."
Earlier, an Israeli minister warned that the air force would keep up its strikes against the Al Quds Brigades unless it stopped the cross-border rocket fire.
"We will continue to hit those who hit us. Islamic Jihad, which has an itchy trigger finger, is starting to pay the price," Home Front Defence Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel's army radio.
"We have hit those who deserved it and we will continue to do so as long as there is terrorism against Israel," he said.
But Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor told Israeli public radio that the Jewish state was ready to respect the truce declared by militants as long as there was calm along the border.
"We will not jeopardise the calm if the other side does the same," Meridor said. "But we will not wait to act while we are being shot at and people are dying," he said. "I hope this message will be understood."
Short link: