Armed Palestinians are said to have kidnapped two foreign teachers in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning.
This is the latest in a series of kidnappings by Palestinian terror groups.
The news broke just hours after the Palestinian Interior Ministry issued a call for armed groups to stop launching rocket attacks on Israeli targets.
Israeli officials say at least five rockets landed in Israel on Tuesday, four in civilian areas and one within a military base next to the southern city Ashqelon.
The Media Line analysts say there is still a question mark hanging over the January 25 Palestinian parliamentary elections.
With the ongoing violence within the Palestinian areas and into Israel, coupled with Hamas’s rise in opinion polls and successes in recent local elections, there is an increasing chance the vote will be postponed by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.
Egypt’s head of intelligence ‘Umar Suleiman is in the Palestinian areas on Wednesday to discuss the latest escalation in violence.