Hamas has vowed to call off an informal truce at the end of the year following the deaths of two Palestinian militants in an Israeli missile strike.
The most powerful Islamist movement in Gaza warned that Israel had 'started a war' by killing a local leader of its military wing and a senior commander of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.
Just hours after the attack, an Israeli soldier was shot dead by Palestinian gunmen in a West Bank operation to arrest a Hamas suspect.
The death was the first Israeli military fatality since Israel completed its withdrawal of its settlements in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank in September.
The soldier was shot during a gun battle following the raid and died as he was being taken to hospital, an army spokesperson said.
They are the latest incidents in a week of bloodshed which has seen Israel kill 13 Palestinians, most of whom are thought to have been gunmen, in strikes against militants.
The strikes followed last Wednesday's suicide bombing in the coastal city of Hadera in which five Israelis were killed.
The violence has deflated hopes that Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip would revive peacemaking efforts.
