Israeli strike kills Palestinian

A Palestinian militant has been killed in an Israeli strike on the Gaza strip.

The death comes a day after the Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, ended its six-month-long ceasefire with Israel.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a group of men after two rockets were fired at southern Israel.

Meanwhile, a ship carrying international activists delivering medical aid has docked in the Gaza Strip, despite an Israeli blockade.

It the fifth such shipment since last August.

Hamas blamed Israel for the end of the ceasefire on Friday, saying it had not respected its terms, including the lifting of the blockade under which little more than humanitarian aid has been allowed into Gaza.

Israel said it initially began a staged easing of the blockade, but this was halted when Hamas failed to fulfil what Israel says were agreed conditions, including ending all rocket fire and halting weapons smuggling.

Three other people are reported to have been injured in Saturday's air strike, including two militants.

Israel says the man killed was member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

Appeal for calm

Israel says the blockade - in place since Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007 - is needed to isolate Hamas and stop it and other militants from firing rockets across the border at Israeli towns.

The Egyptian-brokered deal began on 19 June but has been tested regularly by Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli operations in Gaza.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said 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".

He called for an immediate end to rocket attacks against Israel from Gaza and all other violence.

Both Hamas and Israel say they will do whatever it takes to protect their people but neither has said they will go on the offensive.

The BBC's Katya Adler, in Jerusalem, says Israeli politicians are mindful of a looming general election. Hamas is also embroiled in a bitter internal struggle with its rivals in the Fatah movement, which governs the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.