JERUSALEM, 6 October 2004 — Israel assassinated the top commander of the Islamic Jihad group in a Gaza airstrike yesterday, drawing vows of revenge that could complicate efforts to end a massive Israeli terror offensive in the strip.

Bashir Al-Dabbash, 38, was the most senior leader within Palestinian territories of the group that is sworn to destroying the Jewish state and at the forefront of a bombing campaign during a 4-year-old Palestinian uprising.

He died alongside another Palestinian one year and one day after the last big bombing by the faction — when a Palestinian woman killed 23 others at a restaurant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. The Israeli Army said in a statement that it had attacked the vehicle.

“Islamic Jihad will not be broken by this martyrdom,” said Khaled Al-Batsh, a senior political leader in Gaza. “Islamic Jihad’s armed wing will return this strike with tougher strikes against the Zionist entity.”

Dabbash’s assassination was Israel’s most high profile since it killed the leader of the Hamas group in April.

Dabbash headed Islamic Jihad’s military wing, known as the Al-Quds Brigade. Political leader Ramadan Shallah is abroad.

His body was borne to the morgue from the wreckage of his car by Palestinians firing in the air and chanting for revenge.

The strike raised tension just as Israeli and Palestinian officials were trying to work out a deal to end a six-day-old Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip to end rocket fire by Palestinians.

Security commanders on both sides have begun indirect contacts through Egyptian mediators as Israel faces US calls for restraint in an army campaign in which 70 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed.

Israel is now demanding three straight “rocket-free” days as proof of the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to prevent such attacks, an Israeli security source said. The last rocket strike on Monday wounded one man on a college campus in Sderot.

The effort to quell fighting in the northern Gaza Strip followed US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s call for Israel to quickly end what has grown into its bloodiest army operation since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.

A missile strike killed a Palestinian yesterday in the besieged Jabaliya refugee camp that has been the main focus of the raid. A 24-year-old Palestinian was later killed by Israeli gunfire.

Palestinian leaders have complained about what they see as world indifference to the latest in a string of Israeli raids.

The Palestinians’ Arab allies began pressing late on Monday for a UN Security Council resolution demanding Israel stop its offensive, but the United States signaled it would oppose a “one-sided” measure, hinting of a possible veto.

Palestinian officials said Egypt was acting as an intermediary and was also pressing Hamas to stop firing its makeshift Qassam rockets at Israeli towns. An Israeli general flew to Cairo for talks on the Gaza situation.

An Israeli security source said discussions were expected to accelerate but that Israel remained skeptical of the willingness of Palestinian security men to confront Hamas.

“Their record in this area is not good,” the source said.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said he was unaware of contacts with Israel, which refuses to talk directly to the Palestinian Authority. But he welcomed any move by Israel “to speak to the Palestinian Authority instead of destroying it.”

Some officials of Hamas suggested they might be ready to stop firing rockets if Israel halts its Gaza offensive.

But Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri said Israel first had to stop “all sorts of aggression against our people”.

— Additional input from agencies