Israel kills seven Palestinians in Gaza air strike

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

JABALYA, Gaza Strip (Reuters) – Israel killed an Islamic
Jihad leader and six other Palestinians in an air strike in
Gaza on Thursday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon vowed a broad offensive against Palestinian militants.

A missile blew apart a car carrying Shadi Mhanna in Jabalya
refugee camp, witnesses said. At least one of the other
Palestinians killed was also an Islamic Jihad militant. Ten
people, among them bystanders, were wounded.

It was the deadliest such strike since March 2004, when
Israeli missiles killed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and
seven others in Gaza.

Hopes that Israel’s recent pullout from Gaza could promote
peace talks had been dented on Wednesday when an Islamic Jihad
suicide bomber killed five Israelis. The militant group said
that attack was revenge for Israel’s killing of its top West
Bank planner.

Sharon said there could be no advance toward peace for now
because of the “absolute failure of the Palestinian Authority
in the fight against terrorism,” and promised to launch a major
military operation expected to focus on the occupied West Bank.

“Our action will be broad and will not stop until it brings
about a cessation of terrorism,” Sharon said ahead of a meeting
with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Tel Aviv.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas in a phone call to do more to rein in
militants, and Sharon ruled out talks with Abbas until he took
“serious action” against armed groups.

Abbas has so far preferred to negotiate with armed groups
rather than attempting to disarm them by force.

Israel’s military confirmed it had killed Mhanna. Earlier,
its planes struck Gaza in what Israel called an effort to stop
rocket fire from the territory. There were no casualties.

MARKET BOMBER

Wednesday’s suicide bombing in the main outdoor market in
Hadera was the first bombing in the Jewish state since August
28.

The Palestinian Authority denounced the bombing and pledged
to try to salvage the truce he agreed to earlier this year.

“We strongly condemn the Israeli aggressions against our
people in the West Bank and Gaza just as we condemn the
incident in Hadera,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie
said. “What happened (on Wednesday) … is like spilling oil on
a fire.”

In a possible prelude to a broader military campaign, an
Israeli armored force swept into Jenin in the West Bank and
arrested a local Islamic Jihad leader before pulling out again,
Palestinian security sources said.

Troops also arrested the 20-year-old bomber’s father in the
northern West Bank on Thursday. Another nine suspected Islamic
militants were also held.

Islamic Jihad, sworn to Israel’s destruction, had vowed
revenge after Israeli troops on Monday shot dead West Bank
commander Loai Assadi, the most senior militant killed since
the truce began.

Asked about the Palestinian Authority condemnation of the
bombing, an Islamic Jihad spokesman said: “Anyone who
criticizes the resistance is a violator of the national
consensus and stands beside the enemy.”

(Additional reporting by Wafa Amr in Ramallah, Corinne
Heller and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem)