Israeli forces have launched a fresh incursion into the Gaza Strip, after pulling out several hours earlier. in retaliation for a recent rocket attack.

Late Wednesday, Israeli tanks returned to the Palestinian town of Dir al-Balah, which they raided earlier along with several other Palestinian towns in retaliation for a recent rocket attack. Six Palestinians were killed in those raids and more than 20 suspected militants were detained.

Israel says it will continue such operations until it finds Palestinian rocket factories and those who operate them. Israel has accused the militant Hamas group of firing a new kind of rocket -- the Qassam-2 -- in an attack Sunday on Israeli farmland. The rocket has a range of up to eight kilometers.

Hamas says it has the right to acquire whatever weapons it can to combat Israel's superior firepower.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says Yasser Arafat wrote him a letter this week accepting responsibility for the recently-foiled attempt to smuggle in weapons from Iran. He says he accepts responsibility, not in a personal way, but as chairman of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel intercepted an arms shipment last month on board the Karine-A ship in the Red Sea. President Bush has said he was extremely disappointed by the incident.

Mr. Arafat has been forced to stay in the West Bank town of Ramallah for the past two months because of an Israeli military blockade. However, he met there Wednesday with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who urged him to do more to crack down on Palestinian extremists.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer visits the region today (Thursday), but Israeli radio says a planned meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been canceled because Mr. Sharon is ill.

In other developments, Israeli news reports say Mr. Arafat threatened the West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub with a gun on Monday after mobs freed Islamic militants from Palestinian jails in Hebron.

Mr. Arafat has been trying to prove he is tough on extremists while at the same time remaining under virtual house arrest and dealing with internal Palestinian criticism.

(ap, afp, prev)

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