Israel kills Palestinian militant in Gaza strike

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed a Palestinian militant in an
air strike in Gaza on Friday, after vowing it would not stop
its hunt for gunmen despite a U.S. call to renew contacts with
the Palestinians.

The missile landed near two cars in north Gaza that carried
militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, and from Islamic
Jihad, which killed five Israelis in a suicide bombing on
Wednesday.

The Israeli army said it had been targeting militants who
were en route to a rocket launch pad near the northern Gaza
town of Beit Hanoun.

Israel has stepped up such attacks since Wednesday’s
suicide bombing, the first after it completed its pullout from
Gaza on September 12. An Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza on
Thursday killed eight Palestinians, mostly militants.

Palestinian medics said the attack near Beit Hanoun
destroyed the two vehicles and killed an al-Aqsa militant,
while the rest of the men seemed to have escaped unharmed.

An al-Aqsa spokesman said militants from his group had
fired a rocket into Israel shortly before the strike.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom earlier signaled that
Thursday’s air raid would not be Israel’s last reprisal for the
suicide bombing in the Israeli city of Hadera.

The United States strongly urged the Palestinians to rein
in militants after this week’s suicide bombing but also
appealed to Israel for caution and encouraged a resumption of
talks with Abbas that have been put on hold.

“The message cannot be one of silence and restraint after
such a terrible attack,” Shalom told Israel Radio when asked
about the U.S. entreaty. “The terror organizations must know
that we will continue to hunt them everywhere, all the time.”

QUARTET URGES RESTRAINT

Washington appears increasingly concerned about the latest
blows to an eight-month-old ceasefire. Palestinian militants
have said they would abide by the truce until the end of the
year but would respond to any Israeli attacks.

The United States and other international mediators called
on Israelis and Palestinians on Friday to show restraint and
not let violence undermine the quest for peace in the region.

The quartet of the United States, European Union, Russia
and the United Nations “denounces all acts of terrorism and
urges all parties to exercise restraint, avoid an escalation of
violence and keep the channels of communication open,” the
group said after conferring by telephone.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was quoted by the
daily Yedioth Ahronoth as saying Abbas was “not delivering the
goods” as a peace partner and voicing doubts about a peace deal
in this generation.

The Palestinians said the main obstacle was Israel’s
continued occupation of the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered a broad
offensive against Islamic Jihad, which said it carried out the
Hadera bombing to avenge Israel’s killing of one of its top
West Bank commander on Monday.

Sharon has ruled out new talks with Abbas, who condemned
Wednesday’s bombing, until he took “serious action” against
armed groups.

Late on Thursday, a missile blew apart a car carrying
Islamic Jihad commander Shadi Mhanna, who had overseen the
group’s cross-border rocket fire into Israel, and three
comrades in a Gaza refugee camp. Four bystanders also died.

The Palestinian Interior Ministry accused Israel of
carrying out “terror acts that will not help in restoring
security.”

Islamic Jihad, dedicated to Israel’s destruction, vowed
revenge. Its initial response was the firing of a makeshift
rocket into Israel, causing no damage or casualties.

About 20,000 mourners marched in funerals in Gaza chanting
“Death to Israel” and echoing the Iranian president’s comments
earlier this week that the Jewish state should be “wiped off
the map,” a call that has stirred international condemnation.

Abbas has opted to try to persuade militants to adhere to a
truce he declared with Sharon in February rather than try to
disarm them by force, which he fears could spark civil war.

(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis, Matt Spetalnick and
Corinne Heller in Jerusalem and Wafa Amr and Mohammed Assadi in
Ramallah)