GAZA, Feb. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli F-16 warplanes bombed and destroyed three main roads in the northern Gaza Strip earlier on Saturday to stop rocket firing by Palestinian militants, Palestinian security sources reported.

    The Israeli air strike came in response to an overnight firing of homemade rockets at southern Israeli towns by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of the Fatah movement.

    The group said that rocket attack was in retaliation for the killing of five Palestinians in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday.

    The latest round of violence came as the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is about to form a new Palestinian government, following its election victory in January.

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Israeli Television Channel 10 in an interview on Friday that Hamas's win could have positive advantages in the future.

    Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman of the Palestinian presidency indicated that Abbas is determined to ask the Quartet Committee to pressure Israel to end its current military operation.

    The Quartet Committee, which groups the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, has been a long time mediator over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

    Abu Rudeineh didn't rule out the possibility of heading to the United Nations Security Council to ask the world body to condemn Israeli military actions against the Palestinians in the West Bank. Enditem