Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz vowed on Sunday to continue an ongoing large-scale military operation till the infrastructure of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) is dismantled.

"We are carrying out a broad operation against the Islamic Jihad infrastructure in light of Jihad's intention to continue with suicide bombings," said Mofaz ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting.

"We are making huge efforts to prevent these attacks ... and this operation will continue until we can say that the Islamic Jihad's infrastructure can no longer carry out suicide bombings," he added.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have strained since a Jihad member blew himself up in an open-air market in Israeli coastal city of Hadera, which killed five Israelis on Wednesday.

Jihad claimed that the suicide attack was a retaliation for the Israeli killing of a senior Jihad leader.

In response, Israel vowed a broad and open-ended massive offensive in the West Bank and northern Gaza.

Early on Sunday, the Israeli army fired artillery at an open area in the northern Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants fired at least one mortar shell into the southern Israeli town of Sderot. No injuries were reported in either attack.

Meanwhile, Palestinian newspaper Al Quds reported on Sunday that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was nearing an agreement with militant factions regarding halting the rocket attacks on Israel.

The report said the PNA demanded an end to the attacks in exchange for an Israeli agreement to cease air strikes.

Source: Xinhua