An Israeli man died on Tuesday after sustaining critical wounds in a Qassam strike on Sderot earlier in the day.

Yaakov Yaakobov, 43, was wounded when a rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip came crashing through the roof and down to the lower story of the poultry packing plant in which he worked. The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Louise Arbour, was visiting in Sderot at the time of the attack.

Yaakov was rushed to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, for surgery to remove shrapnel from his head. Doctors said over the course of the day that his condition had stabilized.

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A spokesman from the ruling Hamas' military wing told Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday that Palestinians would fire rockets at Sderot so long as Israeli attacks on Gaza continue.

Abu Obayed warned Israel to either call off military strikes or "empty Sderot of its residents." He added that the range and quality of Qassam rockets had improved.

The announcement came hours after Yaakobov was wounded and after Israel Defense Forces troops shot and killed Wael Hassanin, a top Hamas local commander, during a gunbattle in a Gaza City neighborhood. It also came a day after Hamas officials said the group was prepared to take part in a mutual cease-fire.

The rocket also started a fire in a factory in the zone, but fire-fighters brought the blaze under control. The 170 workers in the Off Kor plant were evacuated from the scene. Two more Qassams landed outside Sderot on Tuesday, but caused neither injuries nor damage.

The UN commissioner, Louise Arbour, was unhurt in the attack. Arbour, a Canadian, arrived in Sderot after a visit to the Gaza Strip. She is on a five-day tour of the Palestinian territories and Israel.

Arbour got an angry reception in Sderot, when workers at a chicken slaughtering plant threw stones at her vehicle and shouted curses when she insisted on seeing the result of Palestinian rocket fire firsthand.

Israel "has a responsibility to defend its citizens, but has to do so only by legal means," Arbour said. "It has to do so in line with international law, including international humanitarian law, but it has a primary responsibility to protect people who are under its authorities."

Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, who accompanied Arbour to Sderot, said "They [the rockets] landed a few hundred yards away from where we were."

"She was in a car but the delegation had parked very briefly when we heard very loud explosions. There were two plumes of smoke," he said.

The armed wing of Hamas later said it launched two makeshift rockets at the town. The salvo landed shortly after Israeli troops killed a Hamas gunman in northern Gaza.

Gunness said that Arbour had made the point "very, very forcibly" in a conversation with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he should exercise as much of his authority as possible to try to put an end to the Qassam rocket attacks.

"The position of the High Commissioner is that Qassam rockets are illegal under international law. The reason is that they are not accurate and (those launching them) cannot make a distinction between combatants and non-combatants," he said by telephone from Sderot.

A worker in the Sderot-area plant told Army Radio that the building had no defenses against rocket attacks, and that when an alert was sounded, all that the employees could do was "pray to God that it would not hit them."

Hamas signals it could take part in truce
Hamas' warning to Israel came a day after group officials told PA Chairman Abbas it was prepared to immediately halt Qassam attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip. The announcement came at a meeting on Monday of Palestinian factions, in which Abbas presented Defense Minister Amir Peretz's proposal for a mutual cease-fire.

The meeting, which took place Monday afternoon in Gaza, was attended by representatives of the five largest Palestinian factions: Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). Khalil Hiya and Jamal Abu Hashem represented Hamas.

Abbas opened the discussion by reporting he had received a proposal from Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz for a mutual cease-fire. He said that as opposed to previous cease-fire initiatives, in which Israel made unilateral demands of the Palestinians, Israel would agree this time to stop the fighting from its side, as well. "I told Peretz that Israel must also stop firing," Abbas said of his response to Peretz's request that the Palestinians halt their Qassam attacks.

Abbas conceded, however, to those present that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's position on the cease-fire was still unclear, in light of media reports Monday that the prime minister had prohibited Peretz from meeting with Abbas.

Palestinian sources said Hamas representatives Hiya and Abu Hashem expressed willingness to stop firing Qassams at Israel. However Abbas also demanded a commitment from Hamas to stop attacks in the West Bank. In response to this, the two men said they would need additional time to consult with senior members of the organization before coming to a final decision on the matter.

The head of the Hamas parliamentary faction, Salah Bardawil, told Haaretz on Monday that his organization was prepared to engage in an immediate cease-fire with Israel, on the condition that it be mutual. Bardawil said Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had proposed returning to an agreement on a tahadiyeh - a temporary cease-fire, before, "but now the problem is on the Israeli side."

He added, "Peretz and Olmert are divided in their opinions and it is not clear to us what Israel's position is on stopping the fighting. Peretz asked Abu Mazen [Abbas] for a cease-fire, the chairman asked for an Israeli commitment to stop the firing on its side, but Peretz cannot give an Israeli answer on this subject."