An Islamic Jihad leader on Sunday said his Gaza-based movement can not maintain self-restraint without an official ceasefire binding Israel.

"The resistance will continue as long as there is no declared lull in Gaza Strip," said Khaled al-Batsh.

"The factions are asked to respond to any Zionist aggression and our movement will not accept the current situation for a long time," he said, without elaborating who piled pressure on the factions to resist.

His remarks came a day after Palestinian militants and Israeli soldiers engaged each other on Gaza borders. Also on Saturday, Israeli police shot dead an Arab girl after she fired at them in southern Israel.

The Islamic Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, cracked down on militants who fired rockets at Israel after the Jewish state and Hamas each declared a unilateral ceasefire on January18 ending a 22-day Israeli offensive in the coastal enclave.

In the wake of the unprecedented Gaza war, Egypt failed to renew a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and turn the unilateral truces into a durable one.