GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas yesterday denounced a deadly Israeli arrest raid that killed five Palestinian Arabs, calling it an intentional provocation aimed at undermining a six-month cease-fire, but he urged terrorist groups to hold their fire.

Terrorists vowed to renew attacks on Israel, a move that would undercut the good will that resulted from an Israeli pullout from 25 Jewish settlements in Gaza and part of the West Bank.

Following Tuesday’s completion of the most important stage of the pullout – evacuating settlers – violence flared in three places.

A rocket fired from Lebanon exploded in an Israeli village just across the border yesterday, causing some damage but no casualties. Late Wednesday, Israeli forces raided the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank, killing five Palestinian Arabs, at least three of them armed. In a terror attack a few hours before that, a Palestinian Arab stabbed two young Jewish men in the Old City of Jerusalem, killing one and seriously wounding the other.

Mr. Abbas blamed Israel for inciting the sudden escalation with its deadly raid in Tulkarem. “This murder intentionally aims at renewing the vicious cycle of violence,” he said.

An aide to Prime Minister Sharon, Raanan Gissin, responded that the Palestinian Arabs have failed to control terrorists. “We have transferred authority over this city of Tulkarem and the surrounding villages to the Palestinian Authority, and over a period of about three months, no action has been taken,” Mr. Gissin said.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the department was still trying to get a clear picture of what happened in Tulkarem but stressed, “Israel has a right to defend itself.”

“What is important is that – and especially at this time, where we have a withdrawal taking place in Gaza and the West Bank – that both sides refrain from actions that could inflame tensions that might exacerbate the situation and make the environment in which we do have the ability of trust and confidence more difficult,” he added.

Since Messrs. Abbas and Sharon declared a cease-fire in February, the number of violent incidents plunged. However, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have carried out attacks, claiming they were responding to Israeli violations.

Islamic Jihad sent a suicide bomber into Tel Aviv in February and another into Netanya in July. Five Israelis were killed in each attack. The cell’s leadership was traced to the Tulkarem area, and Israel has been hunting its members, claiming that even under the truce, it has the right to take defensive measures.

Israel’s defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, said the arrest raid targeted those fugitives. “This was an operation against a ‘ticking bomb,'” he told Israel TV. “They were planning a suicide bombing attack in Israel.”

Palestinian Arabs said the Israelis opened fire first, and Mr. Mofaz did not deny that. “Weapons were drawn on the soldiers, and gunfire resulted,” he said.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades vowed revenge.

“The Zionists should prepare … bags to collect the remains of their soldiers and settlers because we are going to hit in the depths of the entity,” an Islamic Jihad commander in the Gaza Strip, Abu Abdullah, said.

Hours later, terrorists fired two homemade rockets from Gaza into southern Israel, the army said, the first such attack since Israel began its pullout from Gaza on August 15. There were no injuries or damage.

At midday yesterday, a rocket fired from Lebanon exploded in Margaliot, an Israeli farming village on the border. No one was hurt. Army Radio reported it was the first time such a rocket has been fired at an Israeli community since Israel ended its 18-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.

Israeli security officials have been warning that terrorist groups in Lebanon might try to heat up the border area during Israel’s pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank.

The Jewish seminary student killed in the Jerusalem stabbing attack was buried yesterday. He was identified as Shmuel Matt, 21, a British citizen. A second student, Sammy Weissbard, 20, from New York, was wounded.