RAMALLAH, October 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The military wing of the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for an attack in northern Israel on Wednesday, October 26, which left five Israelis killed and dozens injured, saying the attack was in retaliation to Israel's killing of its West Bank military commander.

"This is an initial response to the killing of Louai Saadi," a member of the Al-Quds Brigades told Agence France Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.

Five Israelis were killed and 30 others wounded when a Palestinian self-bomber blew himself up by a market in the Israeli city of Hadera shortly before 4 pm (1400 GMT) as shoppers stocked up on provisions on the first working day after a week-long Israeli holiday period.

The blast caused heavy damage to the market stalls lining the wide tree-lined street which runs alongside the town's market.

The Palestinian group said that the bomb attack was carried out by Hassan Abu Zeid, a 21-year-old member of the movement, from the nearby village of Qabatiya.

On Tuesday, at least five Palestinians were critically injured, including a toddler and three women, when Israeli warplanes launched fresh missile strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Wednesday's attack was the first bombing inside Israel since August 28, when a Palestinian wounded 20 people in Beersheba.

Khidr Habib, Islamic Jihad's spokesman, told Al-Jazeera television that that attack was in retaliation for Israel's "daily crimes."

"We dedicate this heroic operation to the Palestinian people in retaliation for the killing of many martyrs by the Israeli army," he told the Doha-based broadcaster.

"The Israeli army harvests the results of the killings, terrorism and destruction against the Palestinian people. Israelis should realize that this is what they harvest because of Israeli policies, escalating aggression against our people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

"The Israeli enemy carries out almost daily assassinations against our Palestinian people, despite our commitment to the period of calm," Habib said.

Habib, however, stressed the group's commitment to the cooling-down period with Israel as long as the Israeli government is abided by the agreement.

"We still announce our commitment to the period of calm, on the condition that the Israeli enemy is committed to it too. The problem lies in the Israeli enemy that has never been and will never be committed to the calm operation.

Palestinian resistance factions have been observing a de facto truce since Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was elected in January, an agreement that was cemented at talks brokered by Egypt last March.

The shaky truce has repeatedly been put to the test by Israeli assassinations of resistance activists and incessant attacks.

"It is against our interests and it only increases the violence in this region," Abbas said.

The Palestinian leader condemned the Wednesday's attack, calling on the resistance factions not to give the Israeli government excuses to continue attacks against the Palestinian people.

"It is forbidden for people to take the law into their own hands," Abbas was quoted as saying by AFP.

"It is against our interests and it only increases the violence in this region," Abbas said, vowing that the Palestinian Authority would "increase its efforts to ensure the continuation of the truce".

The Palestinian leader accused the Palestinian factions of exploiting the political situation by carrying out such "irresponsible" attacks.

"It is so easy for someone to say the occupation is the cause of problem but we should not give them the excuse to attack us," said Abbas, who returned to the West Bank on Tuesday following a six-nation tour which included talks with US President George W. Bush.

During his visit to Washington, Abbas came under pressure to do more to rein in the resistance groups in the face of continuing violence since Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last month.

Early Tuesday, a helicopter fired a missile into a building of Abbas's Fatah party in the northern town of Beit Hanoun.

The "cooling down" period was broken in September when Israel assassinated three Islamic Jihad leaders, prompting the resistance movement to fire three rockets into the Israeli town of Sderot.

Adding insult to injury, Israel assassinated three days later two Hamas members in a deadly air strike in Al-Zaitoun district to the south of the Strip, prompting retaliation threats from Hamas.