Israel kills 9 Palestinians in Gaza

GAZA - Israel killed nine Palestinians, at least three of them Hamas militants, in the Gaza Strip today, pressing a nearly four-month offensive launched after a soldier was abducted, witnesses said.

Hamas's armed wing responded by firing six make-shift rockets into Israel. No one was wounded. The rockets were the first fired by Hamas militants in more than a month but other militant groups have kept up such attacks.

Hamas controls the Palestinian government and has rebuffed international pressure to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by interim peace deals.

Six Palestinians were killed in clashes in Gaza and an Israeli missile fired from an unmanned drone killed three Palestinians including a young girl and her father and wounded more than 10 others in the Shijaia neighbourhood in Gaza City, local residents and hospital staff said.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the attack was aimed at a senior militant from the armed wing of Hamas, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, named Ashraf Ferwana but local residents said Ferwana survived, although his brother was killed.

"Our response will be strong and we will hit the enemy everywhere ... The enemy will enjoy neither security nor safety in our land," said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Izz el-Deen al-Qassam.

A second air strike close to midnight targeted a metal workshop in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza city, a well-known militant stronghold in the city. No casualties were reported.

Ahmed Youssef, a top political adviser to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, called for a summit in Egypt between Hamas and the once-dominant Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas over stalled efforts to form a unity government.

Elections?

The worst internal fighting in a decade has stoked fears of civil war, and Abbas's aides said the president, who advocates a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, might appoint an emergency government or call early elections.

Earlier on in suspected inter-Palestinian violence, a member of an Abbas-controlled intelligence service was killed by unknown gunmen, the latest in a string of assassinations in Gaza targeting security officials loyal to the moderate president.

Later, a Hamas activist was killed by unknown gunmen outside his house in northern Gaza and a local pro-Fatah radio station was stormed by gunmen who set it ablaze after detonating hand grenades in the building.

Youssef said dissolving the Hamas-led government could lead to the collapse of the Palestinian Authority and stepped up attacks against the Jewish state.

"Either the Palestinian Authority collapses if the government is dissolved and we return to ... armed resistance, or we pursue the formation of a national unity government," Youssef said.

Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction. Its armed wing carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis after a Palestinian uprising began in 2000. Its last suicide bombing was in August 2004.

Overnight, Israeli troops backed by helicopter gunships entered the southern Gaza village of Abassan under cover of darkness, touching off clashes.

At least three Hamas militants were killed along with two bystanders -- a man and his teenage son. The sixth dead was a Hamas member but he was not carrying weapons, residents said.

The Israeli army confirmed its forces were operating in the area, saying they were looking for facilities used by militants waging a six-year-old Palestinian revolt. Troops fired on gunmen who tried to attack them, an army spokesman said.

"This is an area believed to conceal tunnels and other forms of infrastructure used by terrorist groups," he said.

Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, said the raid was designed to increase internal tensions. He said Abbas had contributed to the tensions by refusing to meet with Haniyeh.

- REUTERS