MIDDLE EAST: Under mounting pressure to respond to Palestinian attacks, especially the firing of rockets by militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said yesterday he had instructed the army to take "any action . . . that is necessary to halt terrorism".
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Mr Sharon accused newly-elected Palestinian leader Mr Mahmoud Abba, of "not lifting a finger" to stop armed groups. "Regrettably, despite the change in the Palestinian leadership, we note that those at the top have not begun any action whatsoever to halt the terrorism," Mr Sharon said.
The latest comments by the Israeli leader come less than 48 hours after he suspended all contacts with Mr Abbas following an attack on Thursday night by Palestinian militants at an Israel-Gaza border crossing that left six Israeli civilians dead.
The stepped-up military action could include the resumption of Israel's policy of assassinating top militant leaders and the carving out of security "buffers" in Gaza to keep the rockets out of range of Israeli towns.
Eight Palestinians, some of them gunmen, were killed on Saturday in Gaza as the army continued its operations following Thursday night's attack.
Palestinian medics said that two more people were killed last night, a man and his mother, in southern Gaza by Israeli tank fire. There was no immediate comment from the army. Military officials say the raids are meant to halt the launching of Qassam rockets, as the makeshift missiles have been dubbed by Hamas militants, at the southern Israeli town of Sderot.
A teenage girl was critically injured on Saturday night by a rocket that landed in the town. Defying calls by Mr Abbas and the PLO for an end to attacks, militants fired four more rockets yesterday into Israel. There were no injuries.
The army's inability to stem the rocket fire has sewn panic in the small working class town and residents demonstrated yesterday, calling on Mr Sharon, whose ranch is near Sderot, to take action to end the rocket launches. Until the Palestinian Authority took steps to end the violence, the prime minister said, Israeli security forces "have been instructed to step up operational activity against terrorism and they will continue to do so, without restrictions, I emphasize, without restrictions".
Hopes of an end to violence and a return to the negotiating table that accompanied the election of Mr Abbas, who has long called for an end to armed Palestinians attacks, have been badly damaged.