Israeli army kills top militant
The Israeli army killed a top Hamas militant in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, prompting vows of revenge by the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip.
An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip went into effect last month, but Israeli raids against militants in the West Bank have touched off rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israeli towns.
The ceasefire, which does not apply to the West Bank, calls on Hamas to halt rocket fire in return for Israel gradually easing its embargo of the impoverished coastal territory.
In Sunday's operation in Hebron, Israeli soldiers fired at the house of Shihab al-Natsheh, a 25-year-old Hamas militant, after he refused to surrender and shot at troops, local residents said. An army bulldozer later razed the house.
Hamas's armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigade, vowed to avenge Natsheh's killing. "Our response will be swift and painful," it said in a statement.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers clashed with a group of gunmen in Hebron, killing one. She gave no details.
Palestinians said the Israeli army blocked all roads to the city, preventing anybody from leaving or entering.
Residents said Israel believed Natsheh was behind a suicide attack that killed an Israeli woman in the southern city of Dimona in February, and had been hunting him for months.
Natsheh's killing coincided with resurgent violence among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas launched a crackdown against rival armed militants after deadly bombings, including one on Friday that killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl.
Hamas police clashed with gunmen from the Army of Islam, an al Qaeda-inspired group, in Gaza on Sunday, arresting two of them. A Hamas commander was seriously wounded in the fighting, Hamas officials and local residents said.
Friday's blast, the third of its kind in a day, marked one of the biggest internal flare-ups since Hamas seized Gaza from President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction a year ago.
Hamas blamed Fatah for the bomb attack and arrested at least 162 Fatah activists, including two officials.
Pro-Abbas security forces detained 15 Hamas activists, including two officials, in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Sunday, Palestinian security officials said. They gave no reason for the arrests.(Reuters)
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Alex Ellul
Jul 28th 2008, 13:03
As an Israeli girl once wrote: If the Arabs lay down their arms there will be no more war. If the Israelis lay down their arms, there will be no more Israel.
A. Muscat
Jul 28th 2008, 06:57
@ peter sammut
Your comment reflects absolute racism, coupled with lack of knowledge about minimum historical facts. Certainly, the Times of Malta is high quality news papers, and gives all readers equal-right to post opinions.
I suggest, you read well about history, and understand what you read. Thallatx IL hass mal bass - “mixing up lettuce with flatulence". As a matter of fact the Maltese words for lettuce and flatulence rhyme better because they both end in "ass".
Talking politics and or history requires professional high-level read. Definitely kids in diapers and amateurs should be kept-away to preclude spreading ignorance on internet!
Victor Zammit
Jul 28th 2008, 03:39
@peter sammut
Here is the Oxford definition of militants
Having a combative character; especially in the service of a cause: a militant political activist.
Could you please define what Terrorism is? To my knowledge the United Nations has not reached a common definition on Terrorism yet.
An extra bounce if you could enlighten me how do you define ignorance too. Thank you
Ruth. R. Goldirova
Jul 27th 2008, 19:26
Pardon me, what you are saying is incorrect. Should you like to learn some few facts, please read well about this thorny conflict. You can also read my comment I just posted. Thank you
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080727/local/mahmoud-abbas-interview-we-call-for-coexistence-with-israel
LBORG
Jul 27th 2008, 16:16
MALTESE BIAS AGAINST THE JEWS AND ISRAEL?
BEING A CATHOLIC COUNTRY WE ARE THAUGHT SINCE CHILDHOOD WHAT THE JEWS DID TO JESUS CHRIST SO NOT MUCHLIKENESS TOWARDS JEWS
ABOUT ISRAEL
WELL IN A OPIONION POLL IN THE EEC ISRAEL WAS VOTED AS THE BIGGEST TREAT TO WORLD PEACE BY THE ORDINARY PEOPLE
IT IS NOT JUST THE MALTESE BUT THE WHOLE WORLD THAT HAVE BIAS TOWARDS ISRAEL
WHEN YOU LEAVE THE PALESTNIANS IN PEACE MAYBE IT WILL CHANGE
lborg
Jul 27th 2008, 15:51
I AGREE WITH PAUL SAMMUT
THE TIMES IS BIAS
HAMAS ARE NOR MILITANTS BUT BRAVE FREEDOM FIGHTERS AGAINST THE WORLD S MOST NOTORIOS ARMY THAT MURDERS PALESTNIAN CHILDREN JUST AS TARGET PRATICE
peter sammut
Jul 27th 2008, 12:05
Once again the Times of Malta shows its bias against the State of Israel by distorting its news articles, when in its second paragraph of this article, it claims that rocket attacks against Israel are touched off by Israeli attacks against "militants"(militants=terrorists).
The Times jolly well knows that the unceasing rocket attacks against Israel Towns are the source of its attacks against these arab terrorists who even with their declaration of a "cease fire", their attacks against Israel have never stopped. But there again the Maltese bias against Israel and Jews have never stopped from the times Malta was ruled by the arabs then after by the Knights Hospitallers. What is bred in the bones comes out in the flesh, the arab characteristics still live.
I wonder if the Times has the guts to print my comment, which is also in the hands of my relatives in Malta.