Israel vows war on Hamas 'to bitter end'

ISRAEL yesterday pledged a "war to the bitter end" against Hamas but an opinion poll showed a majority of Israelis oppose the stepped-up attacks on leaders of the militant Islamic group.

With his peace "road map" threatened by Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed 38 people in two days, US President George W Bush planned to send a veteran US diplomat to Israel this weekend to try to stem the bloodshed.

In the latest violence, gunmen fired at an Israeli car near the Jewish settlement of Neve Tzuf in the West Bank, wounding two women, one of them seriously, witnesses said.