Truce on shaky ground after Israeli strike on refugee camp

ISRAELI troops blew up two apartment buildings in a Gaza Strip refugee camp yesterday, just hours after undercover forces killed the brother of a radical Palestinian leader during an arrest raid in the West Bank.

The Israeli strikes, which came a day after a Hamas sniper killed an Israeli soldier, further undercut shaky attempts to reach a partial truce. However, officials from both sides said yesterday they were not walking away from the deal.

In the agreement reached earlier this week, Israeli soldiers withdrew from the West Bank town of Bethlehem and were to pull back from positions in Gaza, in exchange for Palestinian efforts to maintain calm in the test areas.