Israel shells Gaza for first time since pullout

GAZA - Israel shelled Gaza for the first time since its withdrawal from the territory in response to a new rocket attack by militants, and vowed no respite in an offensive to halt cross-border salvoes.

An Israeli army statement said troops had fired "a number of artillery shells" at a northern Gaza area used by militants to launch rockets at Israel, and that it would continue to use "any and all means at its disposal" to halt attacks by militants.

Hours later Israel launched a new air strike on Gaza City, targeting an office of the ruling Fatah faction in the Sejaieh quarter, an Israeli military source and witnesses said.

There were no reports of casualties in either incident.

The shelling marked a new escalation in fighting between Israel and the Palestinians, and dealt a new blow to world hopes that Israel's Gaza pull-out on September 12 would lead to renewed Middle East peace talks.

It was the first time Israel had shelled Gaza in years, Israeli media said. Israel's troops had used air power and ground incursions to fight militants during the 38 years when Israel's military ruled the coastal zone.

The shelling came an hour after a rocket from Gaza crashed into a southern Israeli town causing panic but no casualties. The rocket was fired after a fresh Israeli air strike in Gaza after darkness fell on Tuesday.

The violence underlined the factional chaos in Gaza confronting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as he seeks to make Gaza a peaceful proving ground for a state Palestinians aspire to build in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Earlier, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had threatened that militants "will be hit again and again until they understand there are new rules to the game".

Mofaz, addressing troops operating artillery guns, did not rule out an incursion into Gaza and said Israel could assassinate leaders of militant group Hamas just as it killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004.

"Until it is quiet, the terrorist organisations won't know any quiet," Mofaz said.

"If the Hamas organisation, Mahmoud al-Zahar, or Ismail Haniyah and the others continue with rocket fire, we will send them to the same place as Rantissi and Yassin. Let there be no doubt about it."

Mofaz's warning came as Hamas, the main militant group, infuriated Israelis by releasing a statement and video-tape of a blindfolded Israeli man claiming it had killed him in the West Bank after planning to ransom him to release jailed comrades.

It also attested to pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from his restive right-wing Likud party to prove that the pull-out he billed as "disengagement" from conflict with Palestinians would improve, not undermine, Israel's security.

Likud's executive on Monday narrowly voted down a motion by Sharon's rightist rival Benjamin Netanyahu to bring forward a party leadership election in a bid to unseat the prime minister in protest over the evacuation of Gaza.

Despite the vote, Sharon faces a risk of defeat to Netanyahu in a Likud leadership contest set for April if there is no lasting halt to Palestinian violence. The next general election must be held by November 2006.

Netanyahu had argued the withdrawal would turn Gaza into a militant base, but most Israelis backed Sharon's uprooting of all 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said after the Likud vote: "We invite Mr Sharon to resume final-status talks so we can reach the end game."

Palestinians are keen to launch negotiations based on a US-devised "road map" peace plan. Israel rejects such talks before Palestinians disarm militants.

After a weekend volley of dozens of rockets into Israel, Mohammed al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, said militants of all Gaza factions had renewed a "commitment to calm" while reserving the right to respond if Israel continued attacks.

Al-Hindi spoke as a senior Palestinian official said Egypt, a long-time mediator of the conflict, spearheaded a diplomatic campaign to persuade both Israel and the militants to stick to a eight-month ceasefire.

- REUTERS