Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip ? Missiles fired from an Israeli aircraft struck a car in this northern Gaza town Friday, killing a Palestinian militant and escalating the bloodletting that has dimmed the prospects for peacemaking after Israel’s pullout from the coastal strip.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz issued a pessimistic outlook for reaching a peace deal with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, saying in published comments that Abbas was too weak to negotiate a permanent accord. Palestinians accused Mofaz of giving voice to an Israeli policy that favors occupation.

The Israeli military said its aircraft targeted the white Subaru in Beit Hanoun because the militants inside were on a mission to fire rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. No hits were reported in Sderot, but the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a group affiliated with Abbas’ governing Fatah party, said an Israeli drone targeted its members after the rockets were already fired.

An Al Aqsa spokesman, using the code name Abu Ahmed, said Israel would “pay a heavy price for this crime.”

The dead man was identified as Majid Natat, 28, of the Gaza town of Beit Lahia, frequently used for rocket launches against Israel.

Early today, Israeli jets fired missiles in three separate attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, but no injuries were reported. The military said the sites were used to launch attacks on Israel.

In the first attack, aircraft bombarded a road joining Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, destroying it in an apparent effort to block militants from approaching the border area, less than a mile away. A second round of missiles hit an open area east of Bit Hanoun, and a third targeted a site near the dismantled Israeli settlement of Dugit.

A week of bloodshed began Monday when Israeli troops killed the top gunman from the Islamic Jihad militant group in the West Bank. An Islamic Jihad revenge suicide bombing Wednesday killed five Israelis in the central Israeli town of Hadera.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened a “broad and relentless” offensive against militants, including mass arrests and airstrikes, and declared he would not meet Abbas until the Palestinian leader took “serious and tangible action” to crack down on militants. The two men haven’t met since Israel’s Gaza pullout last month because of violent confrontations between the two sides.