Israeli Strikes Hamas Home, Kills 8
Israel's air force fired a missile at a house in Gaza City late Sunday, killing at least eight people, residents and hospital officials said.
The strike followed a decision to step up attacks against Islamic militants in response to rocket fire from Gaza. Israeli air attacks on militant targets earlier in the day killed another three Palestinians.
The attack on the house was the deadliest airstrike since Israel started reprisals Tuesday for the rocket barrages.
The house belonged to Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home. He was one of the Hamas representatives in cease-fire talks with Fatah and was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting just before the strike, residents said.
The missile hit a room used as a meeting place for the extended family, relatives said. Hospital officials said eight people were killed and 13 injured.
All the dead and wounded were relatives and neighbors, al-Haya's wife said. Hamas said two of the dead were militants.
The Israeli military said the missile hit a group of armed militants outside a house.
"We will go ahead despite the challenges, despite the martyrs, despite the pain that I am suffering and my people are suffering," he told reporters at the hospital, in remarks carried by local radio stations.
Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said those killed were civilian members of the al-Haya family, and the attack was a sign that Israel is targeting "everyone — civilians and leaders."
"This escalation is very serious," he said. "All options are open" for responding to this. A Hamas statement called for its military wing to "respond with all means to these crimes."
Three people, including at least one Hamas militant, were killed earlier Sunday in an airstrike on a car in Gaza City. In another airstrike, Israel said it targeted an Islamic Jihad weapons workshop in northern Gaza, but the shop owner said his stereo and video store was apparently hit by mistake.
Later in the day, an Israeli shell exploded in northern Gaza, wounding three, Palestinian security officials said. The military had no comment.
Israeli aircraft struck twice in Gaza City early Monday, killing a Hamas militant. The military said the targets were Hamas and Islamic Jihad weapons factories. Palestinians said one was a cement factory and the other was a house.
In a statement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for international pressure to stop the Israeli attacks.
Despite the sixth straight day of strikes, Gaza militants fired at least 12 rockets at southern Israel. Several exploded in the battered town of Sderot, causing damage but no serious injuries. One destroyed a popular Indian restaurant in a nearby village at nightfall.
Israel's Security Cabinet said it had decided to keep up attacks aimed at the two main Islamic militant groups in Gaza, but stopped short of approving a large-scale ground invasion.
"The operations will focus on Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, who are responsible for the current escalation," the government said in a statement.
After a Security Cabinet meeting, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Israel would not differentiate between militant and political leaders in its strikes.
"Everyone who deals with terror against us should take cover," Dichter told Channel 2 TV. The Palestinian prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, is from Hamas, but analysts said he was not a likely target.
Since last week, 36 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned the strikes could intensify. "If the diplomatic and military efforts we have taken do not bring calm, will have to escalate our response," he said.
Israel's bombardment appears to have pushed Palestinians to calm bloody factional fighting in Gaza. A truce between warring Palestinian factions took hold after a week of fierce fighting.
Hamas and Fatah issued a joint statement Sunday ordering their gunmen to observe the truce.
Residents who had holed up at home ventured out to stock up on supplies at busy shops, children went back to school in time for final exams, and adults returned to work.
More than 50 Palestinians were killed in factional clashes that broke out after Abbas stationed thousands of loyalist security forces in Gaza City without consulting Hamas, Fatah's partner in the Palestinian governing alliance.
Olmert's already shaky internal standing took another blow Sunday when hardline Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to pull his small party out of the government unless a large-scale operation is ordered against Hamas.
"Either Hamas is going to be dismantled, or the government is going to be dismantled," Lieberman said in a statement. "This is not an ultimatum, but these are the options." Olmert would still have a small majority if Lieberman quit.
Olmert has lost much of his public support because of the inconclusive outcome of last summer's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
At the Vatican on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI denounced the Palestinian rocket salvos and the factional fighting, and appealed for Israel to exercise restraint.
"The clashes among Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip and the rocket attacks against inhabitants of the nearby Israeli cities, which prompted armed intervention, are provoking a bloody deterioration of the situation," Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. "In the name of God, I beg that an end be put to this tragic violence."