MIDDLE EAST: Israeli attack helicopters struck for the sixth time in two weeks in Gaza yesterday, killing a member of the military wing of Hamas, as Israel continued its relentless policy of hunting members of the radical Islamic group, writes Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem.
The strike, in which 14 bystanders were injured, came just hours after the Israeli army chief said the military was ready to carry out a ground offensive in the Strip if ordered to do so.
Eyewitnesses said Israeli jets were heard buzzing over Gaza just before the strike, in what Palestinians say is a tactic aimed at drowning out the sound of the approaching helicopters. Four missiles were then fired at a small car carrying three Hamas men on a busy street in Gaza City.
Khader Al-Husari (36) was killed in the attack. A second activist, Mundir Darmita (32), was seriously injured. Several shops and vehicles were badly damaged. Hundreds of Palestinians crowded around the remains of the vehicle and chanted slogans calling for revenge.
Israel has declared open season on Hamas leaders and activists ever since a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem on August 19th, killing 21 people. Two days later, when Israel assassinated Ishmail Abu Shanab, one of the top Hamas figures in Gaza, the movement called off the temporary truce it had declared on June 29th.
Israel has killed 11 Hamas militants since the suicide attack in aerial assassinations like the one yesterday. Three bystanders have been killed in these strikes.
Defence Minister Mr Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet yesterday that Israel had adopted a policy of all-out war on Hamas in the form of a prolonged targeting of the group's leadership and operatives.
Army chief Lieut Gen Moshe Ya'alon told ministers the army was prepared for a ground operation in the Strip following the firing of a rocket by militants in Gaza at the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon last week. The attack, in which there were no injuries, was the northernmost strike yet by militants, who have fired dozens of these rockets at communities in southern Israel.
The government has not approved a major Gaza raid, which would almost certainly exact a high civilian toll. Israel is under pressure from the United States to act with restraint.
Foreign Minister Mr Silvan Shalom arrived in Morocco yesterday for the first visit by a high-ranking Israeli diplomat since relations between the two countries fell apart with the eruption of the Intifada almost three years ago.