Israeli aircraft strike in Gaza

Israeli aircraft struck four times in Gaza early today, the army said, killing one Hamas militant.

The military said two of the targets were Hamas and Islamic Jihad weapons factories. Palestinians said one was a cement factory and the other was a house.

In a statement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for international pressure to stop the Israeli attacks.

The Israeli government yesterday decided to step up military action aimed at the two main Islamic militant groups in Gaza.

“The operations will focus on Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, who are responsible for the current escalation,” the government said in a statement, but stopped short of approving a large-scale ground invasion.

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Israel would not differentiate between militant and political leaders in its strikes. “Everyone who deals with terror against us should take cover,” Dichter told Channel 2 TV.

Since last week, 36 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes.

Despite the airstrikes, Gaza militants fired four more rockets at Israel today, the army said. There were no casualties.

The Israeli airstrikes appeared to help cement a truce between the warring Palestinian faction, which began to take hold after a week of brutal violence.

There was a feeling in Gaza that the Israeli retaliation for the rocket attacks contributed to the calming of internal clashes – which might have been precisely Hamas’ intention when it ratcheted up its rocket fire at Israel and attacked a Gaza-Israel border crossing last week.

The violence has been restricted to the Gaza Strip so far. But in a sign of a possible crackdown in the West Bank, Israeli troops raided two radio stations and one TV channel identified with Hamas early today in the city of Nablus, along with two independent TV stations.

The troops confiscated equipment and videotapes, workers at the stations said, and all five went off the air.