A day after the Arab League (AL) Committee on the Middle East peace process recommended to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to decide on when to start direct peace talks with Israel, Gaza militants fired a long-range Russian-made rocket from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel.

The Israeli army immediately responded to Friday's attack, during which the rocket hit a populated area in the southern costal Israeli city of Ashkelon, causing some damages, but no injuries were reported. Israel sent its war jets overnight to the Gaza Strip and struck several Hamas targets in the enclave.

Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades vowed to revenge the death of its senior militant Eassa al-Batran, 40, who was killed in an Israeli air raid at the Nusseirat refugee camp. Al-Batran is the Hamas Brigade's commander in the enclave's central area.

After overnight intensive and successive Israeli airstrikes on Hamas targets, during which a militant was killed and eight police officers were wounded, Gaza militant groups, mainly Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the left-wing groups called for the immediate stop of peace talks with Israel and carrying out attacks against the Jewish state.

Why escalation happen now

Palestinian observers said when the Palestinian opposition and militant groups know the Arabs' decision to start direct talks, they decided to step up violence to thwart any future talks with Israel.

"I don't think Israel is happy with the AL Committee's decision to resume the direct talks, because going for talks would again put Israel into an embarrassing position, therefore, Israel waited for any excuse to escape from this commitment," said Akram Atallah, a Gaza specialist on Israeli affairs.

He told Xinhua that Gaza militant groups, "who basically oppose any direct or indirect peace talks with Israel, know very well that if they launch any attack on Israel, the Israeli army would immediately retaliate, and it would be a golden opportunity for both Israel and the militant groups to thwart the talks."

The pro-Hamas Popular Resistance Committee (PRC) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the attack was to prove that the Arabs' decision to resume direct talks with Israel "is absurd and meaningless."