Despite the withdrawal of Israeli ground troops on Monday, two Palestinian militants were killed in the Gaza Strip Tuesday in Israeli air strikes, militant and medical sources said according to Reuters.

One of the victims was a rocket squad member who had launched a salvo across the border. Hamas announced that one of his gunmen was killed in missile strike in Gaza City, near the border with Israel.

The member of the Islamic Jihad rocket was killed in an air attack, and one of his comrades was wounded. The militant group reported that they launched seven rockets targeting Sderot, an Israeli town located near the border. According to an Israeli military spokeswoman, the salvo damaged a house, but caused no casualties. Then, Israeli air forces attacked the rocket squad and later the gunman in Gaza City.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the five-day Israeli air strikes aimed at Hamas extremists. Most of those killed were civilians.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived Tuesday in Ramallah, the political capital of West Bank, to speed up the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The visit marked the beginning of her Middle East tour, and began one day after Israel pulled its troops out of Gaza.

She met U.S. - backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after her visit in Cairo, where she held a press conference recommending the two sides to seek peace.

“The rocket attacks against innocent civilians in their cities... it needs to stop. No Israeli government can tolerate that,” Rice said.

Rice overtly accused Iran of providing munitions to Hamas group, and said the United States will support President Abbas by arming and training security forces loyal to him.

“It is very clear that Hamas is being armed, and it is very clear that they're being armed in part by the Iranians,” she said, as quoted by AFP.

Rice urged Hamas militants to halt the rocket fire on Israel, adding that she understands Israel’s right to fire back.

“The rocket attacks against innocent civilians in their (Israeli) cities need to stop. No Israeli government can tolerate that,” Rice said.

However, she added that Israel should take all possible measures to avoid killing innocent civilians in the operations.

Israel resorted to other means to determine the Palestinian militants to cease the fire. They decided the cut off electricity and gas supplies to Gaza, which led to great protest from local and international community. Human rights groups from Israel as well as the United Nations called this measure a “collective punishment” and said that the cutting of electricity harms innocent civilians and it is illegal according to the international law.

Israeli defense spokesman Shlomo Dror said:  “It's their choice. They need to choose if they want to keep investing in rockets and in attacking Israel or if they want electricity from Israel.”