MIDDLE EAST: Israel has resumed air strikes on Palestinian militants amid a surge in violence which puts heavy pressure on an already fragile Israeli-Palestinian truce and threatens to overshadow next month's planned evacuation of all Jewish settlers from occupied Gaza.
Hamas said seven of its activists were killed yesterday in two separate Israeli air strikes several hours apart in the West Bank and Gaza, retaliation for rocket attacks by the militant Islamic group Hamas, which killed an Israeli woman on Thursday.
Attempts by Palestinian security forces in Gaza to stop further Hamas barrages on Israeli targets led early yesterday to the fiercest gunfight for years between Palestinians in which a Hamas militant and a 12 year-old boy were killed.
The outbreak of serious internal Palestinian violence is an embarrassing setback for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who arrived in Gaza on Thursday to press militants to stick to their pledge of "calm", but instead was forced to declare a state of emergency amid fears of a Palestinian civil war.
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has repeatedly stated that he will not tolerate the evacuation of Gaza's 8,000 settlers under fire and would respond with severity to Palestinian attacks. As Israel's defence minister Shaul Mofaz summoned top generals to a meeting yesterday to decide on a response, Israeli troops massed at two makeshift camps outside the volatile 38-mile long coastal strip where 1.3 million Palestinians live.
After the sun set over Gaza City's beaches last night and the mosques' calls for evening prayer drifted over the dusty high-rise city, there were local reports of more rockets being fired at Israeli targets. Friday is a day of rest for Muslims, and Gaza's streets were empty yesterday, its shops and markets closed, making the increased Palestinian security patrols even more visible.
At the Asqoula Street junction in the strongly pro-Hamas Zeitoun neighbourhood where Hamas militants and Palestinian security forces had clashed just hours earlier, the only trace of the intense gunfights was the charred tyres of a burnt-out Palestinian armoured personnel carrier, torched by militants along with three jeeps.
A 75-year-old local man, Muhammed Mustafa, was critical of Hamas's rocket attacks, which the militant group maintains are a justified response to Israeli aggression. "Israel is withdrawing to leave this country for people but Hamas keeps attacking them so the occupation stays here," he said.
Another man who had hours earlier carried the body of the 12-year-old boy killed during the clashes rebuked the Palestinian Authority for raiding the neighbourhood to search for militants suspected of firing rockets. At least 25 people were wounded, including six policemen and 19 civilians, hospital officials said.
"They [ Hamas] are mujahideen, they fight the occupation, that's the way they serve our neighbourhood," said Khamis Khail (22), a private security guard.
The tough action of the Palestinian security forces against Hamas suggested a possible shift in policy by Mr Abbas, who has in the past been reluctant to confront the militants. Palestinian security chief Nasser Yousef said his forces will "not hesitate" to restore law and order, and he ordered rocket attacks to be stopped by all means.
The renewed round of Israeli-Palestinian tit-for-tat violence follows five months of relative calm following a February truce accord between Israel and the Palestinians.
The four Hamas militants killed in central Gaza yesterday afternoon were travelling in a van carrying home-made rockets when it was struck by an Israeli helicopter missile. Only the scorched chassis of the vehicle remained after the strike, as locals milled around while medics wearing surgical gloves collected bits of human flesh.
A Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, maintained last night that their agreed "calm" was still intact, blaming Israel for escalating the situation.
However, he also maintained that yesterday's Israeli air strikes on Hamas militants "need to be responded to in full".
He said Hamas and the Palestinian Authority were making efforts to calm the crisis. "For our part we do care not to escalate the situation and this will guarantee that we prevent a civil war," he said.