Hamas man dies in shooting

A GUN battle erupted in northern Gaza yesterday, killing one militant, after Palestinian authorities tried to break up an outdoor Hamas training session on how to fire homemade rockets at Israel.

The firefight came hours after Mahmoud Abbas, a pragmatic Palestinian leader, accepted the newly created post of prime minister. The appointment marked a major step toward US-sought reform and raised hopes that Israeli-Palestinian fighting might wind down after 30 bloody months.

Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, has been an outspoken critic of shooting and bombing attacks on Israelis, and international mediators expect him to take tough steps against Palestinian militants.

One of his challenges will be to stop the firing of short-range Qassam rockets from northern Gaza at Israeli border towns. Israel has responded harshly to such attacks, raiding Palestinian towns and threatening to reoccupy parts of Gaza if the firing persists. No Israeli has been killed or seriously hurt by the rockets.

In recent months, Palestinian security forces have sporadically patrolled the areas where Qassam rockets are launched, but have largely been unable to prevent the rocket fire.

At about 11pm on Wednesday, officers from the Palestinian intelligence service spotted several Hamas members in a field near the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Hamas activists, who were training how to fire Qassam rockets, were arrested.

Hamas reinforcements arrived and a gun battle erupted. At one point, Hamas members held an intelligence colonel as a bargaining chip for the release of the detainees, but then agreed to free the officer without conditions, the group said.

A Hamas member was killed and two were wounded in the standoff, which ended at about 2am yesterday, Hamas said. There was no immediate comment from the security forces.

Several hours after the incident, a Qassam rocket was fired toward a Jewish settlement in Gaza, causing no injuries or damage, the military said.

In other developments yesterday, the Israeli finance ministry confirmed that the Bush administration has approved $1 billion in special military assistance to Israel to offset the costs of the conflict with the Palestinians and preparations for a possible attack by Iraq. Israel had requested $4 billion.

The US also approved $9 million in loan guarantees for Israel.