Egypt: Captured Israeli Still Alive
The Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants last June is still alive, the visiting Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said Wednesday.
Aboul Gheit said Egypt is working to win the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was captured last June by Gaza militants who tunneled into Israel and fled back to Gaza. Shalit has not been seen or heard from since then, though Israeli officials have said they believe he is alive.
Egypt is acting as a mediator between Israel and Hamas.
In other developments:
Egypt's Aboul Gheit said he could not guarantee Shalit's release.
"This is a very sensitive issue and we have to treat it with very serious sensitivity," he said at a news conference in Jerusalem. "I hope and believe that he will be released ... but I emphasize that we are working hard for his release and we are sure that he is still alive."
Aboul Gheit spoke in Arabic and his comments were translated into Hebrew. The news conference was held after a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
"What he said is nothing new," said Noam Shalit, the soldier's father. "I hope there is more behind it ... I wish we could know more."
The militants holding Shalit have demanded a large-scale prisoner release by Israel.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said this week he would consider releasing some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel before Shalit is freed, softening his long-standing opposition to such a gesture.
The decision to begin "pinpoint retaliation" came hours after a Palestinian rocket seriously wounded two Israeli teenage boys in Sderot, a town in southern Israel close to the Gaza border.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said continued commitment to the truce and the renewal of pinpoint operations were not mutually exclusive.
"As long as operations are prudent and pinpointed, there is no reason for things to degenerate," Livni said at a joint news conference in Jerusalem with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
Michelle Sendel of Sderot calls it a weak response.
"You expect a country that has an army, that has a little bit of pride in itself to protect its citizens. Where is the government? Where is the army?"
Rockets fall on Sderot almost every day, reports Berger, but the government rejected calls by residents for a major air and ground offensive in Gaza.
Although Israel said it remains committed to the truce, the decision to strike against rocket launchers clearly raises the tension.
It also could undermine Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent efforts to bolster the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who is in a standoff with Hamas. The Islamic militant group controls the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet.
"The defense establishment has been instructed to take pinpoint action against the rocket-launching cells," Olmert's office said after a morning meeting of senior officials. "At the same time, Israel will continue to abide by the cease-fire."
Hamas government spokeswoman Ghazi Hamad denounced the Israeli decision to "continue their aggression."
But he added, "We still believe that this agreement is alive, and both sides should respect this agreement because it is (in) the interest (of) our people."
Palestinian militants violated the truce within an hour after it took effect on Nov. 26, and by the military's count, have launched more than 60 rockets at southern Israel since then.
Israel has so far refrained from responding, but Olmert had warned in recent days that his patience was wearing thin. Olmert has come under intense pressure from residents of Sderot, political opponents and members of his own Cabinet to take action against the rockets.
The army said the rocket fired on Wednesday landed in Palestinian territory, but Israel Radio said it landed in an open field in Sderot, causing no injuries or damage. Islamic Jihad militants claimed reponsibility.
Most of the crude weapons have been launched by Islamic Jihad, a radical group backed by Iran that does not participate in Palestinian politics.
Abu Hamza, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, said the group was not moved by Olmert's threat.
"Any harm to our leaders will be met with a harsh response," he said. Hamza said the rocket fire was a response to Israeli arrests of militants in the West Bank, which is not covered by the truce.
The truce ended five months of deadly fighting that followed an attack by Hamas-linked gunmen on an Israeli army post just outside Gaza. Two soldiers were killed and another was captured in that raid, and Israel retaliated by sending ground troops, artillery and aircraft to strike at militants and their rocket squads.
But the incursions failed to stop the rocket fire or win the release of the soldier. When Abbas, a moderate who favors peace talks, persuaded militant factions to agree to a truce, Olmert agreed to pull Israeli forces out of Gaza.
Israel's policy of renewed retaliation could undo progress toward bolstering Abbas against his Hamas rivals. Olmert and Abbas met on Saturday for their first working meeting, and Olmert pledged to ease restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza as a gesture to the Palestinian president.
Renewed violence could delay or shelve those plans.