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Israeli missiles strike Palestinian office

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published July 2, 2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli aircraft fired missiles at the Palestinian prime minister's office early today, just hours after a Palestinian official said the soldier whose abduction sent Israeli troops into the Gaza Strip is alive and in stable condition.

A Hamas militant was killed in another Israeli airstrike.

Witnesses said two missiles hit the Gaza City office of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas early today, leaving one bystander slightly injured and setting the empty building on fire. The Israeli army confirmed it attacked Haniyeh's office.

Inspecting his burning office, Haniyeh called the Israeli attack senseless.

"They have targeted a symbol for the Palestinian people," he said.

The strike, at about 1:45 a.m., came shortly after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned Saturday that the coming hours would be "critical, sensitive and serious" for trying to calm the crisis.

Israeli aircraft also hit a school in Gaza City early today, setting a building on fire, witnesses and rescue workers said. No one was hurt. Other targets were Hamas facilities in northern Gaza.

Palestinian security officials said two militants were wounded. One later died of his wounds, hospital officials said. He was the second militant killed in the five-day Israeli operation to force the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the 19-year-old soldier abducted by Palestinian militants June 25.

Israeli planes attacked the Interior Ministry on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Ziad Abu Aen, a Palestinian deputy minister and Hamas official, said Saturday that Shalit was wounded but in stable condition.

Another Hamas official, however, cast doubt on the statement. Osama Muzami said only the military wing of the Islamic militant group knows the condition of the soldier.

There had been no sign of Shalit since he was abducted during a militant raid on an Israeli army post just outside the Gaza Strip that killed two soldiers and two of the attackers.

Abu Aen said "mediators" told him Shalit had received medical treatment for wounds he suffered in the raid and was in stable condition.

"He has three wounds," Abu Aen said in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "I guess shrapnel wounds."

Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants exchanged fire for several hours Saturday afternoon when Israeli tanks and bulldozers crossed into Gaza and began razing farmland east of Khan Younis. No serious injuries were reported on either side.

The fighting took place north of the position Israeli troops occupied when they entered Gaza on Wednesday. The army said it was carrying out a limited operation in the Khan Younis area and the soldiers were expected to leave soon.

The Hamas-affiliated militants holding Shalit initially said they would trade information about him for all Palestinian women and underage prisoners in Israeli jails. The militants raised their demands Saturday, calling for an end to the Israeli offensive and the release of 1,000 other prisoners in Israel, including non-Palestinian Muslims and Arabs.

The new demand appeared aimed at rallying support in the Arab world.

Israel has ruled out any compromise, saying it would only encourage more abductions.

Israel has also blamed Syria for the kidnapping, noting it gives haven to Hamas' top leaders.

Egypt and other foreign mediators have been working to try to resolve the crisis, but Abbas said those efforts had yet to bear fruit mainly because it was unclear who in Hamas - the militants or the group's leadership abroad - was authorized to make decisions about Shalit.

"The next hours are critical, sensitive and serious. And though the efforts are still ongoing, we have not reached an acceptable solution until now," Abbas' office said in a statement Saturday.

He sounded more optimistic at a news conference Saturday night.

"Regarding the soldier, we will surely reach an agreement. It is not a dead end. People want an acceptable solution," said Abbas, who is from the moderate Fatah Party.

Hamas, which controls the Palestinian Cabinet after winning legislative elections in January, said Shalit should not be freed without a prisoner swap.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that has close ties with Israel, called President Bush on Saturday and talked for 30 minutes about the crisis.

"The president said that the initial goal should be freeing the Israeli soldier - that is the key to ending the crisis," said Frederick Jones, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House.

[Last modified July 2, 2006, 02:52:12]