Israeli jets strike Gaza

GAZA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Israeli military aircraft struck targets in the Gaza Strip overnight Saturday after a rocket was fired from Palestinian territory into Israel, officials said.

Israeli military officials said two Hamas weapons plants and an arms smuggling tunnel were bombed, The Jerusalem Post reported. Unnamed Palestinian sources said five people were wounded, the newspaper said.

A Kassam rocket had been fired from Gaza into the Shaar Hanege region Saturday morning, causing no casualties or damage. An Israeli military spokesperson said the subsequent air attack was in retaliation.

The back-and-forth attacks came as Hamas said it had reached a deal with other terrorist groups in Gaza to cease firing rockets at the western Negev, the Post said.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad said the decision had been made to avoid Israeli retaliatory attacks but that if Israeli soldiers entered the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants would be given "free rein to respond."

The Israeli prime minister's office responded that Hamas would "be judged by its actions, not its words."

Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres was to head to Cairo Sunday to confer with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the diplomatic process with the Palestinians, Iran and kidnapped soldier Staff Sgt. Gilad Schalit.