GAZA CITY, 28 September 2005 — Israel yesterday threatened to assassinate the Hamas leadership and arrested more Palestinians, some of them potential Hamas candidates for the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections.
Israel fired more missiles into Gaza and vowed no respite in an offensive to halt renewed cross-border rocket salvoes by Palestinians. After airstrikes destroyed two bridges and two buildings Israel said were used by militants, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said the fighters “will be hit again and again until they understand there are new rules of the game.”
Mofaz said Israel could assassinate current political leaders of Hamas just as it tracked down and killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Al-Rantissi in 2004.
“Quiet means quiet,” Mofaz was quoted by the YNET media website as saying. “Until there is quiet, terrorist organizations will know no quiet. If (Hamas leaders) Mahmoud Al-Zahar or Ismail Haniyah or others continue with rocket fire, we will send them to the same place as Rantissi and Yassin.” After Mofaz’s remarks, a political leader of Islamic Jihad said it and other militant groups had decided to abide once again by an informal truce. But afterward, another Gaza rocket crashed inside Israel, causing no injury or damage.
Hamas meanwhile claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and killing of an Israeli in the West Bank, saying it had intended to ransom him for the release of jailed comrades. The body of Sasson Nuriel, 50, who went missing last week, was discovered outside Ramallah on Monday.
Of the 379 people arrested in three days of raids, there were dozens of Hamas candidates for Parliament and local councils, prompting charges that Israel is using a weekend truce breach as a cover for trying to crush Hamas before upcoming Palestinian elections.
— Additional input from agencies
