Fighting flares up between Israel and Palestinians

Rival Palestinian Islamic groups Hamas and Fatah called on their members to fight back after 11 militants were killed in a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip

Israel called in aircraft, tanks and bulldozers yesterday to press its military campaign against Gaza rocket squads while militants laid mines and fired mortars at soldiers at a main Gaza-Israel passage.

The military operation ended early today and Israeli forces withdrew, the army said.

After sweeping out its Fatah rivals in a lightning campaign last month, the Islamic militant Hamas is trying to solidify its regime in Gaza, administering the crowded, chaotic, poverty-stricken territory.

It has initiated few attacks against Israel, but also has not stopped other groups from firing rockets at Israeli towns almost daily – provoking Israeli military action and drawing Hamas forces in.

The first clash erupted close to the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, a site of frequent clashes between gunmen and the Israeli army.

Witnesses reported a heavy exchange of fire as Israeli tanks and bulldozers moved in and soldiers took positions on rooftops. Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants hit back with small arms fire, laid mines in front of the soldiers and fired mortars at the Erez passenger crossing between Israel and Gaza.

Two of the mortars landed on the Israeli side of the passage, which has been closed to most traffic since Hamas wrested control of Gaza last month, the army said. No one was hurt, but the mortar shells ignited fire in a road at the crossing, the army said.

Hospital officials said nine militants were killed, and Hamas identified six as its members.

The other three were not immediately identified.

Among the dead was Mohammed Siam, 37, the Hamas field commander in central Gaza, Hamas TV said.

Israeli aircraft later fired missiles at targets in the area, the army said. Hospital officials said two militants were killed. Hamas said both were its members.

Israel frequently sends forces a short distance into Gaza, where they look for tunnels that might be used for infiltrations or attacks.

Also, military bulldozers are often sent in to border areas to flatten land used by militants to launch their short-range homemade rockets.

Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said the group’s fighters opened yesterday’s clash by firing at an Israeli undercover unit. It set off the bloodiest day of conflict since June 27, when 12 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.

Deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and a spokesman for the rival Fatah both condemned the Israeli operation and urged Palestinians to fight back.

“We assert that our people have the full right to defend themselves and to confront these aggressions,” Haniyeh said, and Fatah official Hazem Abu Shanab echoed his thoughts.

However, the two rivals squabbled on another front yesterday, when about 400 Fatah civil servants were prevented from entering their Gaza offices in an argument over the official weekend.

The Hamas-dictated work week in Gaza runs from Saturday to Wednesday, with Thursday and Friday assigned as the weekend. Salam Fayyad, the new Palestinian prime minister, recently announced the Palestinian work week would run from Sunday to Thursday.

Hamas forces yesterday barred people from entering government offices, saying they were closed because it was the official weekend. Most Palestinian civil servants are loyal to Fatah.

On Wednesday, Gaza government employees loyal to Fatah collected their first full salaries in 15 months, but civil servants who sided with the bloody Hamas takeover of Gaza were not paid.