Militants give Israel 24-hour deadline to release prisoners

Palestinian militants today gave Israel 24 hours to start releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, implying they will kill an abducted Israeli soldier tomorrow morning if their demands are not met.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert rejected any negotiations with the militants, and the army pressed ahead with its Gaza offensive, but privately some Israeli officials said the government has not ruled out any options to win Cpl Gilad Shalit’s freedom.

Israel has pounded Gaza with airstrikes and artillery shells for nearly a week in an unsuccessful effort to force the militants to release Shalit.

Israel sent a small force of tanks into northern Gaza today, raising fears it was gearing up for a large invasion.

After Shalit was seized in a June 25 raid on an army post, his captors demanded Israel free all imprisoned Palestinian women and minors in exchange for information about him.

They later increased their demand to include the release of a further 1,000 prisoners.

This morning, Hamas’ military wing – one of the three groups holding him - issued a statement giving Israel until 6am tomorrow (0200BST) to “start” freeing the prisoners.

If Israel doesn’t comply, “we will consider the soldier’s case to be closed,” the statement said, “and then the enemy must bear all the consequences of the future results.”

Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Hamas military wing, later told The Associated Press that Israel must at least begin freeing the women and minors.

“Israel must understand that the resistance factions are serious in this matter. They will close this case if (Israel) doesn’t deal with the demands,” he said, adding that the militants would not compromise.

Abu Obeida refused to specify what the militants would do if the ultimatum was ignored.

Killing Shalit, however, would remove their only leverage against Israel and would likely invite far harsher reprisals against Gaza.

“If God forbid, they should hurt the soldier, our operations will be far, far worse,” Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Israel’s Channel 2 television.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who has repeatedly ruled out talks with the militants, said the government would not cave in to extortion.

“There will be no negotiations to release prisoners,” his office said in a statement, adding that he holds the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority responsible for Shalit’s safety.

But government and military officials said privately that Israel would pursue all options to get Shalit back. Israel has released prisoners before in lopsided exchanges for captured citizens or the dead bodies of soldiers killed in battle.

Mohammed Dahlan, a Palestinian legislator and close ally to moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, said the ultimatum was a negotiating tactic and that efforts to broker a compromise were continuing.

“What we care about now in the Gaza Strip is not to reach a point of no return,” he said. “Everyone has an interest in getting out of this crisis.”

The White House urged the militants to release Shalit.

“It is the responsibility of Hamas to return the Israeli soldier,” White House press secretary Tony Snow said. “That’s how all this got started.”

“We have also been encouraging Israel from the very beginning to practice restraint and continue to do so.”

Many Palestinians say they do not wish Shalit to be harmed, but the demand to free some of the 9,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel is very popular here and it would be difficult for the militants to release Shalit without at least a token prisoner release.

“I think they should release the women and children and (the militants should) release the soldier,” said Saked Abu Kosh, a 30-year-old pharmacist in the southern town of Rafah. “But without anything in return, they’ll kill him.”

Egypt has been trying to mediate the crisis, but its efforts have been complicated by confusion over who has the authority on the Palestinian side to make a deal.

The Hamas-led government says it had nothing to do with the abduction. The militants who seized Shalit are presumed to answer to the group’s leaders in Syria, but those in Damascus say they bear no responsibility for the soldier.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was in Saudi Arabia today to co-ordinate with the Saudis on efforts to reach a deal over Shalit. Mubarak has already tried to enlist Syria’s help.

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz warned Damascus that he held it responsible for Shalit’s fate because it harboured Hamas’ leaders.

“I suggest that (Syrian President) Bashar Assad, who is trying to operate with his eyes shut tight, open his eyes, because he is responsible,” Peretz said.

Dahlan spoke as the Palestinian parliament held its first session since Israel arrested dozens of top Hamas officials in the West Bank, including eight Cabinet ministers and 26 politicians, late last week.

“By arresting those, Israel is trying to hijack the Palestinian political regime, but our people will protect our political regime,” said parliament speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik.

Meanwhile, Israel continued its operations in Gaza, launching airstrikes throughout the territory. Thousands of soldiers seized vacant areas near southern Gaza last week and Israeli tanks and troops took up positions outside northern Gaza this morning and pounded the area with artillery.

At daybreak, a small force of Israeli tanks entered northern Gaza. The military said it was a “limited” mission to find explosives and tunnels near the border fence.

As that operation proceeded, Israeli aircraft killed a Hamas gunman who was carrying explosives near the troops in northern Gaza, the army and Palestinian officials said.

Also today, Israel closed the Karni cargo crossing into Gaza, citing a security threat, just a day after Israel reopened Karni to allow badly needed humanitarian supplies to reach the coastal strip. The crossing is the main gateway for goods to enter Gaza.

In their statement, Shalit’s captors accused Israel of not “learning lessons” from the fate of other kidnapped soldiers.

The last Israeli soldier kidnapped by Hamas, Nachshon Wachsman, died in 1994 in an Israeli commando raid on his captors’ Jerusalem hideout.

Wachsman’s mother, Esther, accused Israel’s leaders of a lack of candour in dealing with hostage cases.

“I am not calling for the release of murderers, but (Israel’s leaders) should not insult our intelligence because they have negotiated and they have given in to terror,” she wrote in the Haaretz newspaper.