A Palestinian militant has been killed in an Israeli strike on the Gaza strip.

The death comes a day after the Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, ended its six-month-long ceasefire with Israel.

The Israeli military said it had targeted a group of men after two rockets were fired at southern Israel.

Meanwhile, a ship carrying international activists delivering medical aid has docked in the Gaza Strip, despite an Israeli blockade.

It the fifth such shipment since last August.

Hamas blamed Israel for the end of the ceasefire, saying it had not respected the truce and had failed to ease its blockade of Gaza. Three other people are reported to have been injured in the air strike, including two militants.

Israel says the man killed was member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

Israeli officials insist that there was no commitment to ease the siege, under which Israel has allowed little more than basic humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Appeal for calm

Israel says the blockade - in place since Hamas took control of Gaza in June 2007 - is needed to isolate Hamas and stop it and other militants from firing rockets across the border at Israeli towns.
A Palestinian waves a Qatari flag as the Digjnity arrives in Gaza
Pro-Palestinian activists brought Qatari aid to Gaza by boat

The Egyptian-brokered deal began on 19 June but has been tested regularly by Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli operations in Gaza.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said a "major escalation of violence would have grave consequences for the protection of civilians in Israel and Gaza, the welfare of the Gazan civilian population, and the sustainability of political efforts".

He called for an immediate end to rocket attacks against Israel from Gaza and all other violence.

Both Hamas and Israel say they will do whatever it takes to protect their people but neither has said they will go on the offensive.

The BBC's Katya Adler, in Jerusalem, says Israeli politicians are mindful of a looming general election. Hamas is also embroiled in a bitter internal struggle with its rivals in the Fatah movement, which governs the Palestinian areas of the West Bank.