Rapid-fire Israeli air strikes kill five Gaza Palestinians

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

At least five Palestinian militants were killed yesterday in eight rapid-fire Israeli air strikes and the military detained the second Hamas cabinet minister within 48 hours in the West Bank.

One strike wrecked a Gaza City compound used by the paramilitary Hamas Executive Force, another flattened a building used by Hamas's armed wing and a third struck a guardhouse outside the home of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh.

The strikes, in response to the firing of about 225 Qassam rockets from Gaza into Israel in the past 11 days, along with the seizure by troops in Jenin of Minister of State Wasfi Kabha further threatened the already shaky prospects of restoring the ceasefire. Militants fired at least six rockets into Israel yesterday, without causing injuries.

The five men killed yesterday were all thought to have been members of the Executive Force. Reuters reported that the blast that struck their Gaza City compound damaged a kindergarten next door, forcing young children to run for cover.

Fatah officials had earlier said that militant factions that met on Friday had, for the first time since this outbreak of conflict, been considering agreeing to a proposal from the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a trial month-long truce covering Gaza. Earlier the factions, including Hamas, had said such a truce would be possible only if it also extended to the West Bank, where Israeli troops have been conducting frequent raids. The army says that a young militant carrying pipe bombs was arrested at the Hawara checkpoint outside Nablus on Friday.

Israel has been wary of a ceasefire, saying Qassams continued to be fired by at least some factions during the previous six-month ceasefire, and that Hamas and other factions are continuing to smuggle weapons into Gaza from Egypt. Observers also said Mr Abbas's prospects of achieving such a ceasefire agreement with the factions were receding.

After the strikes and the seizure of Mr Kabha, Ismail Hanieyeh, the Palestinian Prime Minister and a leader of Hamas, said: "This aggression will not achieve its goals but it will lead to further escalations that will have dangerous consequences." On Thursday, the education minister, Nasser al-Saher, and 32 other Hamas officials were detained in West Bank raids.

Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Executive Force, urged its members on local radios to take extra precautions because "the enemy doesn't miss a chance". Abu Obeida al-Jarrah, the chief commander of the Executive Force, said in a rare public appearance that Israel's targeting of its bases was "a declaration of war" in coordination with its "agents" in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has recently accused members of its rival, Fatah, of helping Israel.

Egypt is now trying to shore up the fragile ceasefire between Fatah and Hamas, summoning officials from Fatah to Cairo for talks. Hamas said that if invited it would also hold talks with the Egyptians.

Rashid Abu Shbak, a Fatah leader in charge of internal security, told Mr Abbas he intended to resign but this was rejected by the Palestinian President, Mr Abbas's aides said. Mr Abu Shbak's opposition to the implementation of a joint Hamas-Fatah security plan is said to have led to the resignation of the former interior minister Hani Kawasme, at the outset of a week of internal fighting.

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