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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel and the Palestinians agreed Sunday to halt their latest round of rocket attacks and airstrikes, officials said, but the deal threatened to fall through even before it was officially announced when Israeli forces killed three Palestinian militants in the West Bank.
Israeli forces encircled a house in Qabatiyeh after sundown Sunday and killed two militants, including Jihad Zakarne, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member accused by Israel of planning suicide bombing last week, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said.
Israel Radio reported Israeli troops killed a third Palestinian who was planting a bomb nearby. The Israeli military had no comment.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad responded with a statement threatening to hit Israeli towns near Gaza and called on "Palestinian factions to be united to confront the Zionist campaign against the Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian people in the West Bank."
Militant groups had planned a meeting late Sunday at an undisclosed location, where they were expected to endorse the latest truce with Israel, but the Israeli operation in the West Bank put that in doubt.
At stake for the Palestinians is the economic survival of Gaza. With violence simmering, Israel has kept a tight hold on the exits from the coastal strip, citing security concerns.
The announcement of an informal truce came as Danny Arditi, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's counterterrorism adviser, said al-Qaida operatives apparently infiltrated into Gaza last month during chaos after Israel's pullout. Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa denied the allegations and charged that Israel was trying to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority. "There is no sign of any presence and existence of al-Qaida in Gaza Strip," he said.
Israel also said three Gaza militants arrested Oct. 5 had crawled through tunnels into Egypt and infiltrated into Israel, planning to set up a cell in the West Bank to fire rockets at Israeli cities, similar to rocket barrages from Gaza.