Israelis threaten to retake Gaza-Egypt border

JERUSALEM - Several Israeli cabinet ministers have called for a military operation to retake control of Gaza's southern border and prevent Palestinian militants smuggling weapons from neighbouring Egypt.

"Action must be taken without hesitation. Any hesitation is dangerous and we must act immediately," Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai of the religious party Shas told reporters.

Israel is engaged in a massive offensive in Gaza aimed at stopping Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel. More than 250 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have died.

Palestinian government spokesman Ghazi Hamad denounced the proposal as a potential ruse for an Israeli reoccupation of Gaza - something Israel has said repeatedly is not in the works.

"The call to retake the border is a serious escalation and an incitement for more Israeli aggression," Hamad said.

Israel began its assault in Gaza after Palestinian gunmen in the territory abducted a soldier in Israel in a raid in June.

Yishai's call to move back into the 12 km Gaza border zone, more than a year after Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip, was echoed by two other cabinet ministers and a senior military commander.

Israel estimates that since the withdrawal tonnes of munitions, including advanced shoulder-fired missiles, have been spirited into Gaza from Egypt through underground tunnels.

That has rung alarm bells in an Israeli military still reeling from its difficulty in beating back well-armed Hezbollah guerrillas during the recent Lebanon war, and which has been hard put to stop the rocket fire by Gazan militants.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to convene top ministers on Tuesday or Wednesday to discuss the option of a major anti-smuggling operation in Gaza, political sources said.

But the sources voiced doubt that any such mission, with its attendant Palestinian casualties and strains on Israel's strategic ties with Egypt, would go ahead before a planned trip by Olmert to the United States in mid-November.

In the latest violence, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian gunman near the West Bank city of Jenin amid clashes, medics and the army said.

In mounting Palestinian violence, masked gunmen shot dead a security officer loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group, locked in a power struggle with the governing Hamas movement.

Earlier, masked gunmen in Gaza killed a senior militant loyal to Fatah. Another militant who supported Fatah was killed by unknown assailants near the West Bank city of Jericho, witnesses said.

There was no claim of responsibility for any of the shootings. At least 19 Palestinians have been killed in inter-factional fighting this month.

- REUTERS