Militant leaders insist bombings will not topple their rule

GAZA’S deeply entrenched Hamas rulers won’t be easily toppled, even by Israel’s unprecedented bombings on Saturday that killed more than 280 people, most of them men in Hamas uniform.

For now, Israel’s defence minister says he’s striving for a lesser, temporary objective: to deliver such a punishing blow to Hamas that the Islamic militants will halt rocket attacks on Israel.

However, Israel’s offensive, launched just six weeks before a general election in the Jewish state, is fraught with risks.

The horrific TV images of dead and wounded Gazans are inflaming Arab public opinion, embarrassing moderate Arab regimes and weakening Hamas’ rival, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel also risks opening new fronts, including unrest that could destabilise the Abbas-ruled West Bank and possible rocket attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas on northern Israel. Hezbollah has already proved its military prowess in its 2006 war with Israel, firing thousands of rockets. That war erupted while Israel was fighting in Gaza.

Far from being cowed, Hamas leaders sounded defiant on Saturday, and Hamas militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel. One Israeli was killed Saturday, and mounting Israeli casualties could turn Israeli public opinion against the offensive.

“Once you set the ball rolling, you cannot determine where it is going to stop,” said Mouin Rabbani, a Jordan-based Mideast analyst.

Israeli leaders say they had no choice but to act.

A truce between Israel and Hamas, which took effect in June, began unravelling in early November, following an Israeli cross-border raid in Gaza.

Since then, Gaza militants have fired scores of rockets. Israel held off on a major response, apparently in hopes that a new truce could be negotiated.

The government, a coalition of the centrist Kadima Party and the center-left Labour of Defence Minister Ehud Barak, could not afford to be seen as indecisive at a time when hardline opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu was mounting a strong political challenge.

Elections are scheduled for February 10.

Saturday’s strikes appeared aimed at hurting Hamas, while minimising risk to Israeli forces.

Barak said the offensive would continue as long as necessary and could be widened — an apparent reference to sending in ground troops if necessary.

However, Barak defined a narrow objective, to halt the rocket fire from Gaza, not to bring down Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist group.

Eighteen months after seizing Gaza by force, Hamas is in firm control and commands thousands of armed men. It is unlikely to be brought down by force, short of Israel reoccupying the territory. Israel doesn’t like that option, because it doesn’t want to get bogged down in urban warfare.

“Israel is not looking for a knockout against Hamas,” said Shlomo Brom, a former senior Israeli military official. “The purpose is to eventually return to a cease-fire.”

The militants may eventually have to agree to a truce just in order to rebuild.