ReliefWeb

JERUSALEM, July 19 (Reuters) - The Israeli army said on Tuesday it was lifting restrictions on Palestinian traffic in the Gaza Strip imposed at the weekend amid a spate of rocket and mortar attacks.

The army said in a statement it had decided to remove roadblocks that had split Gaza into three and barred Palestinians from moving from one section of the seaside zone to the other.

The roadblocks had led to confrontations with Palestinian motorists jamming the intersections to try to break through. Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in one such incident in southern Gaza on Monday.

But the rocket attacks by Palestinians have subsided after Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants agreed under Egyptian mediation to stick to a general calm in the occupied territory, though saying they would respond to Israeli violence.