Israel steps up shelling, kills one Palestinian

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel shelled two Palestinian security
posts in northern Gaza on Sunday, killing one person and
wounding 15 as the army kept up its heaviest strikes on the
strip since Jewish settlers and troops withdrew last year.

Israeli air strikes and artillery barrages have killed 15
Palestinians, mainly militants, since Friday.

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who won elections last
month on pledges to impose final borders with or without
Palestinian agreement, said there were no curbs on the army to
respond to a surge of militant rocket fire on Israel.

“Anyone who fires a rocket and anyone who participates in
terror acts will be dealt with without hesitation,” Olmert
said.

Israel has also ratcheted up military strikes on Gaza since
the new Palestinian government led by the militant Islamist
group Hamas was sworn in on March 29.

Palestinian security sources said one artillery shell
landed on a small security base east of the northern Gaza town
of Beit Hanoun. Another hit a security position to the south
while a third shell hit a house.

One civilian was killed and 15 people, civilians and
policemen, were wounded, the sources said.

The Israeli army said the strikes were on sites near Beit
Hanoun used by militants to fire makeshift rockets into Israel.
A spokesman said Palestinian security forces and civilians had
been warned to keep away from areas near rocket launch pads.

Palestinian security sources said hundreds of shells were
being fired daily at the sites, but also near residential and
industrial areas. Militant rocket attacks rarely cause
casualties.

In the town of Khan Younis, thousands of Palestinians
attended funerals for six gunmen killed the night before.

Hamas, facing growing criticism from Gazans for not
responding to the Israeli strikes, stepped up its rhetoric.

“The Israeli escalation means no Palestinian resistance
faction has to remain patient against continued assassinations
and massacres,” said spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

POLICY ON PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT

Israel has vowed not to negotiate with Hamas unless it
recognises the Jewish state’s right to exist, renounces
violence and accepts interim peace deals.

Hamas, which is sworn to destroy Israel, says talks with
the Jewish state would be futile.

On Sunday, senior Israeli ministers will work out detailed
guidelines on how to deal with the Palestinians in the wake of
Hamas assuming power.

The guidelines are expected to allow Israel to talk to the
Palestinians through the office of President Mahmoud Abbas, who
favours peace talks, or with low-level Palestinian bureaucrats.

Israel, the United States and the European Commission have
suspended direct funding to the new Hamas-led government until
it recognises Israel and halts violence.

The militant rocket attacks and Israeli shelling have
underscored the dashed hopes that Israel’s pullout of settlers
and troops from Gaza in August and September last year after 38
years of occupation would lead to renewed peacemaking.

Expectations Gaza’s impoverished economy might undergo a
revival have also foundered, with Israeli closures of crossings
into the strip hurting business and worsening food shortages.
Israel says it shuts the crossings because of security threats.

Israeli troops have killed 25 Palestinians, mainly
militants, since a Palestinian suicide bomber killed four
Israelis in the West Bank on March 30.

(Additional reporting by Megan Goldin and Corinne Heller in
Jerusalem)