Settlements attacked after Hamas leader’s killing

DEFIANT Palestinian militants pounded Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip with mortar fire yesterday following the killing of a top Hamas militant in an Israeli airstrike.

Tens of thousands of angry Hamas supporters joined the procession for Adnan al-Ghoul, 46, a founder and deputy chief of the group’s military wing.

Mourners and leaders of the Islamic militant group threatened revenge attacks against Israel. The group, which opposes the Jewish state’s existence, has killed hundreds of Israelis in the past four years of fighting.

“Hamas is loyal to the blood of its martyrs and will continue on the path of holy war and resistance until we achieve victory by defeating the Zionists,” Ismail Hanieh, a Hamas leader said at a Gaza City mosque.

Hamas leaders have been driven underground by Israel’s campaign against it, including the killing of the group’s founder and his successor this year.

Israeli analysts said the killing of al-Ghoul was a major blow to Hamas because he was a top bombmaker responsible for the group’s weaponry.

Israel held al-Ghoul responsible for the deaths of dozens of its citizens, including in suicide bombings in the 1990s. He had been in hiding for years and narrowly escaped two previous attempts on his life.

Al-Ghoul’s assistant, Imad Abbas, also was killed on Thursday.

Following the killings, about 15 mortar rounds were fired at the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim and adjacent military posts, damaging four houses but causing no casualties.

One militant was killed and another gravely wounded as they prepared to fire a mortar at Neve Dekalim, Palestinians and the Israeli army said. A mourner then was shot dead at the militant’s funeral procession.

Elsewhere, in the southern Gaza Strip, Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved about 100 yards into the Rafah refugee camp yesterday.

An Israeli helicopter hovered overhead, firing bursts of gunfire and Palestinian gunmen returned fire.

The Rafah camp, located on the Egyptian border, is a flashpoint of violence, and an Israeli soldier was killed in the area on Thursday.

The small Rafah operation followed a broad invasion into northern Gaza - meant to stop militants from firing rockets into Israel - that began on September 29 and ended last week.

The UN Reliefs and Works Agency said the 17-day offensive killed 107 Palestinians and left nearly 700 people homeless.