"We told the Zionist enemy we will meet it with many surprises ... and this is one of the surprises," he said.

Before setting out on her mission, An-Najar filmed the video testament customary for suicide bombers. A copy obtained by The Associated Press showed a petite woman wearing a white headscarf and black dress, toting an assault rifle on her shoulder and standing in front of a Hamas wall mural.

Reading from a sheet of paper, she dedicated her attack to the Hamas-led government and to the movement's military commander, Mohammed Deif.

"I hope God accepts it," she said.

Eight other Palestinians were killed Thursday. In Gaza, three militants from the Palestinian Resistance Committees were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their car, Palestinian security and hospital officials said. The military confirmed the air force had attacked a vehicle.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades said one of its men, a 20-year-old, was killed in a clash.

Two Hamas militants were killed in a gun battle with Israeli forces, and another was shot dead as he was about to fire a rocket at Israel, the military said. Another man died of wounds in a Gaza hospital. It was not known whether he was a militant or a civilian.

Despite the stepped up Israeli military operations, militants kept firing their homemade rockets at southern Israel. Five were fired from Gaza, the army said. No one was hurt.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz was in Sderot, next to northern Gaza, where he lives, when the alarm warning of a rocket attack sounded. Channel 10 TV showed him being hustled by security officers into a concrete-lined room, and seconds later the explosion of two rockets could be heard clearly.

The escalating violence added urgency to diplomatic efforts to defuse the conflict.

In one hopeful sign, the Damascus-based supreme leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, began talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo on a vital prisoner swap with Israel and formation of a Palestinian national unity government that could end months of crippling Western aid sanctions.

No announcement was made after the talks between Mashaal and the chief of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, Egypt's point man for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

The capture in late June of an Israeli soldier by Hamas-linked militants set off the latest Israeli offensive in Gaza. Israel insists the soldier must be returned before other issues are discussed.

Hamas official Mussa Abu Marzouk told the AP that negotiations were centering on Israel's three-stage release of 1,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 400 children and women, in exchange for the soldier.

Mashaal, who is recognized as having the final say in Hamas, was also expected to discuss prospects for replacing the current Hamas-led Palestinian Cabinet with a more moderate coalition including President Mahmoud Abbas' more moderate Fatah Party. Talks have been sputtering for months.

The West cut off funds to the Palestinian government in March, when Hamas took control after sweeping Fatah out of office in a parliamentary election. The US, Europe and Israel list Hamas as a terror group. A government with Fatah might satisfy Western demands.

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