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Israel pounds Gaza, arrests Palestinian minister | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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A Palestinian boy runs as a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft explodes next to him and others after they gathered at the scene of an earlier airstrike on a Hamas base in Nusseirat, central Gaza Strip, May 25, 2007 (AFP)


A Palestinian boy runs as a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft explodes next to him and others after they gathered at the scene of an earlier airstrike on a Hamas base in Nusseirat, central Gaza Strip, May 25, 2007 (AFP)

A Palestinian boy runs as a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft explodes next to him and others after they gathered at the scene of an earlier airstrike on a Hamas base in Nusseirat, central Gaza Strip, May 25, 2007 (AFP)

GAZA, (Reuters) – Israel stepped up its campaign against Hamas Islamists on Saturday, killing at least five fighters in the Gaza Strip in a wave of air strikes and seizing a Palestinian cabinet minister in the occupied West Bank.

Giant plumes of black smoke rose over what remained of a Gaza City compound used by Hamas’s Executive Force. Other air strikes flattened a building used by Hamas’s armed wing and a guardhouse outside the home of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

Gaza militants, who have launched more than 220 rockets at Israel since May 15, signalled on Friday they might agree to renew a ceasefire. But after the latest air strikes, a deal appeared increasingly doubtful. “Our message to the Zionist enemy is that you have no future on our land,” Abu Ubaida al-Jarrah, chief commander of Hamas’s Executive Force, said in a broadcast on the militant group’s radio station aired during a funeral for the fighters killed.

“Either you leave or you will have no security,” he said, as gunmen fired in the air. “Your threats do not frighten us”.

In a separate operation near the West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli troops arrested the Palestinian Minister of State, Wasfi Kabha of Hamas, officials said. “This aggression will not achieve its goals but it will lead to further escalations that will have dangerous consequences,” said Haniyeh.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction joined a fragile unity government led by the Islamist Hamas group two months ago, wants both sides to agree to a ceasefire as a step towards reviving peace talks with Israel.

Hamas has resisted Abbas’s call for a renewed truce but is aware the fighting has deepened Palestinian rancour at the government, already crippled by a Western aid embargo over its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

Israeli officials doubt any truce will last if Hamas can continue smuggling in arms into Gaza from Egypt.

Although they are partners in a two-month-old unity government, fighting between Hamas and Fatah has killed some 50 Palestinians this month and tension remains high.

Palestinian internal security chief Rashid Abu Shbak, a Fatah leader, told Abbas he intended to resign but Abbas aides said his resignation was not accepted.

Abu Shbak has been locked for months in a power struggle with Hamas over control of the security forces.

Egyptian officials will meet in Cairo starting on Saturday with a Fatah delegation to discuss the factional fighting. Egyptian officials plan to meet separately with Hamas.

In Saturday’s rapid-fire air strikes, at least five Executive Force members were killed and 30 other people wounded. The blast that struck the Executive Force compound damaged a kindergarten next door, breaking windows and sending children scrambling for cover. Noone was hurt.

Militants fired at least six rockets at Israel on Saturday, causing no injuries, the army said.

Kabha is the second cabinet minister seized by Israel since Thursday when troops arrested Education Minister Naser al-Shaer of Hamas and 32 other officials in the occupied West Bank.

The barrage of air strikes and Jenin raid came hours after Hamas’s armed wing and other militant factions said they were considering a proposal by Abbas for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Previously, militants had said that in order to revive a Gaza truce declared in November, Israel must also agree to cease hostilities in the West Bank, another territory where Palestinians seek statehood. Israel rebuffed that demand.

Palestinians gather around the wreckage of a car following an Israeli air strike in the Shujaiya district of Gaza city, 25 May 2007 (AFP)

Palestinians gather around the wreckage of a car following an Israeli air strike in the Shujaiya district of Gaza city, 25 May 2007 (AFP)

Palestinians run for cover as a missile fired by the Israeli military is seen nearly hitting its target during an Israeli air strike on Hamas' Executive Force building in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, 25 May 2007 (AFP)

Palestinians run for cover as a missile fired by the Israeli military is seen nearly hitting its target during an Israeli air strike on Hamas’ Executive Force building in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, 25 May 2007 (AFP)