TEL AVIV, Israel – On a day that saw more scattered Palestinian Arab violence against Israel and a week and a half after the bombings in Britain, Israelis were up in arms over remarks by London’s mayor, Ken Livingstone, that justified suicide bombings by Palestinian terrorists.

Mr. Livingstone equated Israel’s ruling Likud party with the Hamas terrorists at a press conference, remarks the press here widely derided yesterday.

“The Likud and Hamas members are two sides of the same coin,” the politician nicknamed Red Ken said. “They need each other in order to attract support.” He said he would probably meet with Likud members if presented with the opportunity, but said that they have committed “horrendous acts, probably crimes against humanity.” He added that Israel can fight the war with its jets, while Palestinian Arabs have only “their bodies.”

Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was “distressed” Mr. Livingstone had failed to distinguish between terrorists and those who fight against them.

[The ruling Fatah movement and the Islamic Hamas agreed early Wednesday to end several days of clashes in northern Gaza that took the lives of two bystanders, the Associated Press reported. Leaders of the two movements announced the accord at a news conference after midnight in Gaza City.]

Meanwhile, in the West Bank village of Al Yamoun, Israeli troops killed two Islamic Jihad operatives, Ibrahim Abahari and Ra’ad Abahari. After attempting to raze a building where the suspects were hiding, soldiers called on them to surrender. Instead, the two came out with guns blazing and were shot by the troops.

Palestinian Arab sources told Israel’s Channel 1 TV that Ibrahim Abahari and Ra’ad Abahari, members of the same extended family, belonged to the ruling Fatah’s military wing, known as Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Israeli Army spokesmen said that the two had changed alliances recently to join the Islamic Jihad.

Israel categorizes both Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations, but the distinction is crucial as the latter is the only organization that has not agreed to a cease-fire signed earlier this year. In the Egyptian-brokered agreement, terrorist groups agreed to stop suicide bombings and Israel agreed to end targeted killings. Islamic Jihad’s most recent deadly suicide bombing was in the coastal resort town of Netanya in early July.

In northern Gaza, Fatah troops under the control of Mahmoud Abbas clashed with Hamas members yesterday. According to a report posted on the Israeli Web site Y-net, a region in northern Gaza known as Tel Zaatar was completely taken over by the Hamas forces. Yesterday’s violence was the latest in a series of recent tussles between Mr. Abbas’s troops and Hamas, which are engaged in a bitter struggle both for territorial control in Gaza and for public sympathy.

Mr. Abbas wants to demonstrate his efforts to end the almost daily mortar attacks on Jewish settlements in Gaza and across the border. Secretary of State Rice is scheduled to begin a new set of diplomacy meetings here tomorrow, meeting Mr. Abbas first on her arrival.