Palestinian rocket kills Israeli

Feb 27 - A barrage of Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip has killed one person in Israel and follows the deaths of seven Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled territory.

Hamas launched a barrage of rockets at the Jewish state hours after an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the Islamist movement's armed wing as they drove through southern Gaza.

Two more militants were killed in a separate airstrike in northern Gaza while an eighth Palestinian was shot dead in the West Bank town of Nablus by an undercover Israeli unit.

The mounting violence is overshadowing efforts to kickstart peace talks between Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority.

Helen Long reports.