Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Israel vows to press on with Gaza military action
27 May 2007 22:07:07 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds new air strikes destroy Hamas positions in north Gaza)

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM, May 27 (Reuters) - A Hamas rocket attack from Gaza killed a man in Israel on Sunday and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged unlimited military action against the militant group, saying "no one involved in terror" would be immune.

Olmert told his cabinet Israel should "be prepared for a long confrontation" and that he would not necessarily agree to halt fire if Hamas agreed to a truce deal under negotiation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group.

Hamas responded by rejecting Abbas's truce proposal as well. "We will not surrender, we will not raise the white flag," Ayman Taha, a spokesman for the group said in Gaza.

Hamas's armed wing said it had promoted members of the squad that launched the rocket into the southern town of Sderot, where it exploded on a street, spraying shrapnel into a car and causing its 36-year-old driver to slam into a wall.

He was the second Israeli to die in a rocket attack in a near two-week surge in bloodshed, with no end in sight to violence that has made a revival of peacemaking even more remote.

Israel later launched a series of air strikes in Gaza, targeting Hamas positions.

A missile fired from a helicopter set a Hamas executive force position on fire in Jebalya and another missile destroyed a Hamas charity office in Beit Hanoun, Hamas officials and witnesses said. Witnesses reported a third strike in Beit Lahiya.

Earlier, Israel attacked a rocket crew, causing no injuries. Gaza militants have fired more than 220 rockets at Israel since May 15, the Israeli army said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed three aerial assaults that targeted Hamas.

Hamas gunmen resumed rocket fire on Sderot after darkness fell. One rocket slammed into a house, injuring an Israeli, an Israeli emergency service said.

TRUCE SOUGHT

"No one involved in terror has immunity -- pure and simple," Olmert said in broadcast remarks at Israel's weekly cabinet session, after the deadly Sderot attack.

His comments appeared to suggest that Hamas political leaders -- regarded by Israel as giving the green light to rocket salvoes from territory Israeli troops and settlers quit in 2005 -- might also be attacked in a wider air campaign.

Taha, a spokesman for Hamas, said after Olmert's comments there was no point in agreeing to a truce, and reiterated the group's demand for a wider truce that would include the West Bank where Israel launches frequent arrest raids.

"Hamas rejects giving a calm for free and Hamas rejects a calm that does not cover the West Bank too," Taha said.

A senior Palestinian official said Abbas, Hamas and other faction heads had failed in talks to reach a deal for a truce with Israel, or to set a date for further talks.

But a top aide to Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdainah, told Reuters the Palestinian leader would press on for a deal.

In broadcast remarks, Olmert said Israel would not bow to outside pressure to end its air strikes, in which more than 40 Palestinians, most of them militants, have been killed.

"We are not acting according to any timetable that is dictated externally. We will decide where, how and to what extent we act. We are acting without any limitation or directive from anyone," Olmert said.

Hamas has rejected Western demands to recognise the Jewish state and renounce violence.

An Israeli official quoted Olmert as telling his cabinet Israel would not necessarily abide by a ceasefire in any case.

"We need to be prepared for a long confrontation independent of the internal agreements of the Palestinians," the official quoted Olmert as saying at the session where ministers urged a tougher Israeli response to the rockets.

"This is a long conflict and we are not promising that we will coordinate our actions with those of Hamas whether they open fire or stop it," Olmert added, according to the official. (Additional reporting by Avida Landau in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Wafa Amr in Ramallah)


AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article       Send comments

Emergencies

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

MORE >>

Countries

Small country map
© 2004 Europa Technologies Ltd.
Reset map

•  Israel profile
· View map

•  Palestinian territories profile
· View map

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Thousands of Palestinian refugees flee fighting in northern Lebanon
Christian Aid - UK

•  Toll on Palestinian children feared in Lebanon refugee camp
WV MEERO - Cyprus

•  MSF reacts to charges issued against Palestinian staff member
MSF International

•  ICRC deplores violence against civilians in Sderot and Gaza
ICRC - Switzerland

•  UN World Food Program Reps Takes a Look for Themselves
NEF - USA

MORE >>

Latest news

•  Israel vows to press on with Gaza military action

•  Jumblatt downplays Lebanon army action at camp

•  FACTBOX-Developments in Israel and Palestinian territories

•  Hamas rejects Abbas bid for truce with Israel

•  Palestinian official says BBC Gaza reporter alive

MORE >>

Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Sun May 27 22:08:11 2007