Four influential ministers in Ariel Sharon’s Likud Party said tonight they would resign from the government if the prime minister did not agree within two weeks to hold a national referendum on his Gaza withdrawal plan.

Israel’s cabinet today approved a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in principle, but put off a vote on the dismantling of Israeli settlements.

THREE key ministers have spurned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s appeal to help shore up sagging support for his Gaza pull-out plan in a crucial party referendum, political sources said yesterday.

Terror group Hamas secretly appointed a new Gaza Strip chief today, but refused to reveal his identity after Israel assassinated two Hamas leaders in less than a month.

Charly Wegman, Jerusalem

Winning Israel’s general election was the easy part. Now premier Ariel Sharon faces an uphill battle to form a national unity government against “the murderous hatred” of Palestinian militants.

ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s broad-based coalition crumbled yesterday as ministers from the moderate Labour Party pulled the plug on the 20-month coalition which had united bitter political rivals in a common front against the Palestinian uprising.

By Mideast standards it was a pinprick attack, but a car bomb blast in Jerusalem today pushed peace talks even further into the distance.