Israeli air strike kills another top Hamas military leader

Source: Agencies  |   2009-1-3  |     ONLINE EDITION

AN Israeli air strike killed a senior commander of Hamas's armed wing this morning while the Islamist group's leader warned the Israeli army, currently massing on the border, would be defeated if it invaded Gaza.

A week after Israel launched devastating air strikes against the Palestinian enclave with the declared aim of ending Hamas rocket attacks on its southern towns, an end to hostilities remains elusive despite international diplomatic efforts.

The overnight air strike in Gaza killed Abu Zakaria al-Jamal, a senior leader of Hamas's armed wing, the Islamist group said. The Israeli army said only that it carried out a series of air attacks throughout the night.

An Israeli air strike killed another Hamas leader, Nizar Rayyan yesterday. Most of Hamas's top officials have gone into hiding, anticipating assassination attempts by Israel.

The United States has said it envisions a ceasefire with international monitoring that would ensure the Islamist group could not rearm, but in Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal sounded a defiant note in a televised speech.

"We are ready for the challenge, this battle was imposed on us and we are confident we will achieve victory because we have made our preparations," Meshaal said.

A Palestinian official has said Egypt had begun exploratory talks with Hamas to stop the fighting.

Gaza medical officials put the Palestinian casualty toll at at least 429 dead and 2,000 wounded and a United Nations agency said more than a quarter of those killed were civilians. A leading Palestinian human rights group put the figure at 40 percent.

Four Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rockets, that include longer-range weapons that have hit the port of Ashdod and the desert town of Beersheba, forcing schools to shut and residents to scurry for shelter.

US President George W. Bush, in his first public comments on the hostilities that erupted less than a month before he leaves office, said: "Another one-way ceasefire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable."

"And promises from Hamas will not suffice -- there must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure that smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end," he said in remarks prepared for his weekly Saturday radio address, which was released yesterday.

The United States has demanded Hamas, which Israel says has been smuggling weapons through tunnels under Gaza's border with Egypt, take the first step by halting rocket attacks on Israel.

In the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, 1.5 million Palestinians are unable to escape the conflict. Residents face bombs, missiles and flickering electricity, and queue for bread along streets littered with broken glass and other debris.

Ten Palestinians were killed yesterday in more than 30 Israeli air strikes. Seven of them were civilians, including five children, local medics said.

One missile killed three Palestinian children aged between eight and 12 as they played on a street near the town of Khan Yunis in the south of the strip. One was decapitated.

Islamist fighters fired rockets at Israel's ancient port of Ashkelon, blowing out windows in an apartment building. Another house took a direct hit from a long-range missile later in the day, and cars were set ablaze.

Bush and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been engaged in telephone diplomacy during the past week, talking with leaders in the Middle East and Europe, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Earlier yesterday the White House said Israel must decide for itself whether to go into the Gaza Strip with ground forces but it cautioned any actions should avoid civilian casualties and ensure the flow of humanitarian goods.