 Israel launched more air strikes in Gaza despite Hamas saying it would halt rocket attacks, casting a shadow over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bid to stave off a leadership challenge.
| Maybe it cast a shadow over it, but he somehow managed to survive... |
The violence came as Likud's central committee was voting on a motion by Benjamin Netanyahu to advance a party primary election to November in protest at Sharon's removal of soldiers and settlers from Gaza this month. A weekend barrage of rockets into Israel from Gaza appeared to have strengthened Netanyahu, who argued that evacuating the territory would encourage more violence. Sharon's tough response could help shore up his position at the last moment.
| Seems to have done so, assuming it was done for political reasons, which I don't think it was. Hamas has been aching for a resumption of festivities... |
Yesterday's air strikes hit targets around Gaza City as well as the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis, in an upsurge of violence that has put in doubt an expected summit between Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The attacks knocked out power to the eastern part of Gaza City and caused damage to several buildings, but no injuries were reported. The Israeli Army said its targets included an access road leading to a suspected rocket-launching site in northern Gaza, and weapons-manufacturing factories and storage facilities belonging to various militant groups. Later in the day, aircraft fired missiles at an empty field believed to be used by militants to launch rockets at Israel. The screw was also turned in the West Bank where a further 90 people were detained overnight, the day after more than 200 were arrested.
 Israel's air campaign continued despite a call by Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar to end the group's rocket attacks. Zahhar said Hamas remained committed to a seven-month-old cease-fire and he wanted to prevent further Israeli attacks. "We call on our military groups to stop their operations against the enemy from the Gaza Strip," he said. A senior Palestinian official said Hamas bowed to an angry phone call by Abbas to its exiled top leader, Khaled Meshaal, and to Egyptian warnings to the group "that it had gone too far" with the rocket barrage.
But while Hamas drew back from launching rockets, other militant groups fired salvoes into Israel, causing no casualties, and vowed more attacks after the killing of a senior Islamic Jihad commander in an Israeli strike on Sunday. "There is no talk of a truce, there is only room for talk of war," said Islamic Jihad's top leader in Gaza, Mohammad al-Hindi.
| Hamas, IJ, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs always do this. One or two say they're going to be good, and the third goes on merrily shooting and booming and rocketing everything in sight. It's a variation of good cop-bad cop, and the PA always pretends not to notice. I wouldn't mind seeing al-Hindi catching a Hellfire, myself... |
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