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Wreckage of a car rocketed by an Israeli helicopter (AP)
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Tali Hatuel, 34, and (clockwise) her daughters Hila (11), Hadar (9), Roni (7) and Merav (2). (Photos: Katif.net)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners September 25, 2005 |
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| A member of Islamic Jihad is pulled from the wreckage of his car. (AP) |
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Israel pressed forward with a broad offensive against Islamic militants on Sunday, killing an Islamic Jihad commander in a pinpoint airstrike in the Gaza Strip and rounding up more than 200 wanted Palestinians. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to use "all means" to crush the militants.
The Jihad commander, Mohammed Khalil, was responsible for murdering a pregnant Israeli woman, Talia Hatuel and her four children in May 2004. Her surviving husband, David, was recently expelled from his home in Jewish Gaza. Khalil also directed an attack which killed 5 IDF soldiers in an Armored Personnel Carrier which exploded near the Philadephi corridor later in the month.
The offensive, coming just two weeks after Israel withdrew from Gaza, followed a wave of militant rocket attacks against Israeli towns over the weekend. Israel has promised to continue with its airstrikes, arrests and a possible ground invasion until the rocket fire ceases.
Late Sunday, a top Hamas leader in Gaza said his group would halt the rocket fire. Israeli officials said they would wait to see if things remained quiet before calling off the offensive.
Sharon told his Cabinet Sunday that he would do everything possible to crush Palestinian militants following the weekend rocket barrage that lightly wounded six Israelis.
"There shall be no restrictions on the use of all means to hit the terrorists and the terror organizations, their equipment and their hideouts," Sharon said Sunday. "The order is unequivocal."
Sunday's airstrike killed Islamic Jihad's top commander in southern Gaza, Mohammed Khalil, and his bodyguard as they drove along a coastal road in Gaza City.
The airstrike signaled a return to Israel's policy of targeted killings. Israel halted the assassinations, which have drawn international condemnations, after a February cease-fire declaration.
The army said Khalil was responsible for attacks that killed 17 Israelis. They included a May 2, 2004, shooting that killed a pregnant Israeli woman and her four young daughters as they drove near a Jewish settlement in Gaza and a May 2004 attack on an Israeli armored vehicle that killed five soldiers in southern Gaza.
Islamic Jihad also said Khalil, 35, had escaped four previous assassination attempts, losing a leg in one attack.
After the airstrike, Mohammed al-Hindi, Islamic Jihad's top leader in Gaza and the West Bank, said the group would no longer honor the cease-fire. "There is no talk of a truce, there is only room for talk of war," he said.
Although the truce has brought a sharp drop in fighting, Islamic Jihad has carried out a series of attacks in recent months, including three suicide bombings in Israel. The group says all of its attacks have been in response to perceived Israeli violations of the truce.
However, Mahmoud Zahar, leader of the much larger Hamas group, said he had ordered an end to rocket attacks and a halt in military-style celebrations in order to preserve the truce.
"We call on our military groups to stop their operations against the enemy from the Gaza Strip," he told a news conference, adding that weapons should be used "only against the face of the occupation."
The latest violence erupted after a blast killed 20 people at Hamas military parade celebrating the Gaza pullout last Friday. Hamas blamed Israel, but the Palestinian Authority said the explosion was caused by the mishandling of explosives. Israel, which usually acknowledges attacks on militants, denied involvement in the blast.
Hamas responded by firing nearly 40 rockets into Israel, sparking the Israeli offensive. Hamas has been under pressure from Palestinian officials and Egyptian mediators to end the violence.
The fighting has destroyed the lingering atmosphere of goodwill left over from the Gaza pullout and increased already intense pressure on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to confront militants. Abbas has refused to use force against militants, preferring instead to co-opt them by inviting Hamas to run in upcoming legislative elections.
Israeli officials said late Sunday that they were waiting to see if the Hamas declaration would translate into an end to rocket fire. In the meantime, they said the offensive would continue.
Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said there can be no progress in peace talks until Abbas disarms Hamas and other militant groups. "As long as extremists have the ability to torpedo the process of reconciliation and to launch attacks, we will be at their mercy," Regev said.
Abbas said Sunday that he asked U.S. officials to pressure Israel to pull back from its offensive. "We're back to square one. Now we need time to regain calm. Our people need a quiet life and to make a living," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the weekend to prevent the situation from further deteriorating, American and Palestinian officials said.
"We understand the terrorists are trying to provoke Israel at this sensitive time, we understand the Israeli position and the response it has taken," said Richard H. Jones, the U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Israeli airstrikes overnight Sunday hit militant targets throughout Gaza, including three weapons-storage facilities and a Gaza City school the military said Hamas used to raise funds for attacks, recruit militants and assist families of suicide bombers. Nineteen people were slightly wounded, and the facilities were heavily damaged.
Early Sunday, Israel arrested 207 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, most of them members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Among those arrested were Hassan Yousef and Mohammed Ghazal, two of the most prominent Hamas leaders in the West Bank, Hamas officials said.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops, backed by armored bulldozers, tanks and armored personnel carriers, massed outside Gaza.
In an unprecedented step, Israel set up five artillery pieces on the border, and fired test-rounds into empty fields in northern Gaza to calibrate their guns in preparation for a possible artillery assault. There were no injuries.
In the past, Israel retaliated against Palestinian rocket fire with air strikes or ground incursions, but not artillery fire, which is imprecise and could cause many casualties in densely populated Gaza.
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