Sharon gives army free hand, Hamas militant killed

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel, threatening a possible major
offensive into Gaza, gave a free hand to security forces to
stop Palestinian cross-border rocket salvoes on Sunday and
killed a Hamas militant commander.

Troops and tanks massed in preparation for a sweeping
attack, but Israeli political sources said that looked unlikely
ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to try
to salvage a crumbling five-month-old ceasefire.

The worst surge in bloodshed since the truce was agreed has
threatened to hamper Israel’s withdrawal from Jewish
settlements in occupied Gaza starting next month and amplified
doubts over peacemaking prospects.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he had instructed the army
“to act without limitation to stop the strikes on Israeli
communities” after rocket and mortar salvoes continued despite
an appeal for calm by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In the southern Gaza Strip, a commander of the Hamas group
behind much rocket fire was killed with a single bullet fired
from a nearby settlement. Saeed Seyam’s father said he had been
going to water the garden. The army said it killed him as part
of a revived assassination policy.

Troops also said they killed a gunman approaching a central
Gaza settlement, but there was no Palestinian confirmation.

“Hamas will not stand handcuffed against the new crime,”
said spokesman Mushir Al-Masri.

Hamas said it fired mortars that hurt six Israelis in
southern Gaza settlements in retaliation for the death of
Seyam. Soon after, Palestinian witnesses said two people were
injured by tank fire.

ISRAELI FORCES MASSED

Troops, tanks and armored vehicles have massed ready for an
offensive into the Gaza Strip and discussion of when it could
begin dominated Sharon’s cabinet meeting. But political sources
said Israel was likely to give Abbas more time to bring calm.

“There are signs that the situation could be defused,” said
one Israeli political source.

Egyptian officials arrived in Gaza to try to help shore up
the truce and Rice is due in the region at the end of the week.

Washington wants to preserve the ceasefire and supports
Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, seeing it as a possible
springboard to renewed talks on its “road map” peace plan.

Israel has not launched a large-scale offensive into the
Gaza Strip since the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat
last year raised new hopes for Middle East peacemaking.

Abbas wants to avert Israeli army incursions into Gaza but
has to tread carefully against Hamas, committed to destroying
Israel. Gunbattles on Friday between Hamas and Palestinian
police trying to stop rocket fire raised fears of civil war.

A Palestinian official voiced alarm at the threat of a Gaza
offensive. “If carried out, it would have only disastrous
results on the Gaza disengagement’s prospects and on the peace
process as a whole,” senior negotiator Saeb Erekat told
Reuters.

The death of the Hamas commander in Gaza brought to eight
the number of the group’s fighters killed in the upsurge.

Sharon, who ordered stepped up army action against
militants after a suicide bombing and rocket attack killed six
Israelis last week, has vowed not to quit Gaza under fire.

A similar scenario of attack, retaliation and revenge –
for which each side blames the other — put paid to many
previous peace efforts.

“Around and around we go. A trap that no one knows how to
escape from,” said Roni Shaked, commentator in Israel’s best
selling Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.