(Adds Palestinian official, factions meet, paragraphs 4 and 16)

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA, June 25 (Reuters) - Israel kept its border crossings with the Gaza Strip shut on Wednesday, saying it was in response to a Palestinian rocket salvo that breached an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

The crossings were to have opened at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) to let imports to reach the impoverished territory. But Israeli military liaison official Peter Lerner said they would stay closed until further notice.

"Any reopening will be in accordance with security considerations," he told Reuters.

Raed Fattouh, the Palestinian coordinator of supplies entering Gaza, said: "The Israelis have informed us that the crossings with Gaza will remain closed until further notice."

Earlier, a Palestinian official said that Israel had told Egypt the crossings would reopen to goods on Thursday.

Lerner said he was not aware of any such decision.

A European Union official said EU-funded fuel deliveries via Israel to Gaza's main power plant were suspended due to the Israeli move.

The EU official said fuel had been delivered on Tuesday and based on current projections, the power station should be able to continue operations through the week even if deliveries did not resume immediately.

On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad militants fired several rockets into southern Israel, breaching a five-day-old Gaza truce in what they called retaliation for the Israeli army's killing of one of their commanders in the occupied West Bank.

The ceasefire deal does not cover the West Bank.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers, accused Israel of bad faith in closing the crossings, where restrictions were tightened a year ago after the Islamist group took over the territory.

"The closure by the Occupation (Israel) is a violation of the deal for calm in Gaza," Abu Zuhri said.

FARMER

Further stoking tension, Islamic Jihad threatened more attacks on Wednesday for what it called a shooting by Israeli troops of a Palestinian farmer as he worked his field in the village of Khuza, near the Gaza border.

Palestinian medical officials said the man was wounded in the leg but there was no independent confirmation that he had been shot by Israeli forces. In Tel Aviv, an Israeli military spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of any such incident.

After Tuesday's rockets, Hamas urged other factions to hold their fire and said it wanted the truce preserved.

Hamas minister Saeed Seyam met Islamic Jihad leaders on Wednesday and the groups formed a joint unit to monitor the truce in order to prevent any unilateral actions against Israel.

Hamas's military wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said Egypt would renew attempts to broker a deal under which a captive Israeli soldier, seized by Gaza militants exactly two years ago, would be exchanged for Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Tuesday, said Cairo was "exerting efforts" for the soldier, Gilad Shalit.

Israel wants the opening of Gaza's key border with Egypt to be conditional on a deal for Shalit's release, and Olmert aides said he received assurances on the issue during his talks with Mubarak at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said last week Shalit's release depended on Israel freeing jailed Palestinians, though the Olmert government has balked at many of the names on the list.

"The ball is in the Occupation's court, and if they are interested in a deal they will have to meet the conditions of the Resistance," said Abu Ubaida, a Qassam brigades spokesman. "If not, the captured soldier will never see the light of day." (Additional reporting by Adam Entous in Jerusalem, Writing by Dan Williams, Editing by Stephen Weeks)

AlertNet news is provided by