MIDDLE EAST:The armed wing of Hamas said it carried out its first attacks against Israel since a shaky November truce in the Gaza Strip, shooting a utility worker near the border yesterday and firing two mortar bombs at soldiers.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert's office denounced what it called a "terror" attack and said it showed the new Palestinian unity government, dominated by Hamas, was failing to meet western demands to halt violence and recognise Israel.
Palestinians hope the government that took office on Saturday between Hamas Islamists and President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, will stop fighting between the groups and ease a crippling economic embargo that has increased poverty.
The year-old diplomatic boycott splintered further yesterday when Norway's deputy foreign minister met prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Gaza and Italy's foreign minister called Mr Haniyeh in a show of support.
But crippling economic sanctions, spearheaded by the United States and Israel, remain in place and tensions between the factions remain high, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
In its first public rift with Fatah since they established their government, Hamas accused Mr Abbas of illegality in naming one of the Islamist group's long-time foes, Mohammad Dahlan, as national security adviser without consulting Hamas.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev accused Norway of "giving legitimacy and recognition to an unreformed extremist". Israel has threatened in the past to shun diplomats who meet members of the Hamas-led government but it was unclear whether it would take that step now.
Hamas's Qassam Brigades said the shooting attack, which seriously wounded the Israeli worker near the Karni commercial crossing, and the mortar fire, were in response to Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank, which is not covered by the four-month-old truce.
No soldiers were wounded by the mortar fire.
The Qassam Brigades said attacks against Israel would continue, but the group did not declare a formal end to the truce. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said: "Hamas did not and will not stop the resistance."
It was the first attack claimed by Hamas's armed wing since the November truce, which it had upheld.
Other groups, such as Islamic Jihad, stayed out of the ceasefire and continued to launch makeshift rockets into Israel from Gaza.
An explosion ripped through an Islamic Jihad member's house near Gaza City yesterday, killing him and wounding at least nine people. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.
Israel believes Hamas has been taking advantage of the break in fighting to build up its forces and smuggle in an arsenal of rockets that could penetrate deep into Israeli territory.
Mr Olmert has vowed to boycott the new Palestinian government, including non-Hamas ministers, saying its platform does not meet three conditions set by the West last year: that it recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.
"This is precisely the type of terror that the new Palestinian government steadfastly refuses to condemn, thus rejecting a principal condition placed upon it by the international community," said David Baker, an official in Mr Olmert's office.
The US said it would continue to boycott the new Palestinian government but did not rule out unofficial talks with non-Hamas ministers.
The unity government says it will "respect" previous interim peace agreements with Israel. Its platform does not recognise Israel and asserts that Palestinian resistance in "all its forms" is a legitimate right.
Meanwhile, the father of a BBC journalist abducted in Gaza a week ago appealed to his captors yesterday to free his son immediately. Graham Johnston said in a television appeal that his son, Alan Johnston, who has not been seen since March 12th when he left the BBC's office to drive to his Gaza City home, was a "friend of the Palestinian people".
"Holding Alan is not doing the Palestinian people any favours," he said. "Quite the opposite.
"This is no way to treat a friend of the Palestinian people, and all I can say to the men that are holding Alan is: 'please let my son go, now, today'." The BBC also said it was increasingly concerned about Mr Johnston's safety.