GAZA, 12 June 2006 — An Israeli helicopter airstrike killed two Palestinian fighters from Hamas in Gaza yesterday after a homemade rocket fired by members of the Islamist group seriously wounded an Israeli civilian. Three fighters were also wounded.
The Israeli army confirmed the strike, saying the helicopter fired a missile shortly after the men launched a rocket from northern Gaza. They were the first Hamas fighters killed by Israel since November.
A second Israeli helicopter airstrike yesterday struck close to a car being driven by Hamas fighters, but they escaped, witnesses and medics said. A bystander was wounded.
Israel’s strikes came hours after an Israeli man was wounded when a makeshift Hamas rocket landed near a school in the Israeli town of Sderot, near the Gaza border. A hospital official said the 60-year-old man was in a serious condition.
The killing of the Hamas fighters was the first by Israel since the ruling Islamist group ended a 16-month truce on Friday after seven Palestinians, including three children, were killed on a Gaza beach on a day of Israeli shelling.
Israel has said the killings were a mistake, although it has not admitted responsibility. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has expressed his condolences and promised an investigation.
The escalation of violence coincides with growing division within Palestinian politics.
President Mahmoud Abbas has called a referendum on a statehood proposal implicitly recognizing Israel, a move rejected by Hamas. Hamas plans to challenge the referendum in an emergency session of Parliament today, Hamas lawmakers said.
While legal experts disagreed on whether Parliament could strike down a decree that Abbas issued on Saturday setting the referendum for July 26, a resounding vote against it could complicate the plan or put him under pressure to back down.
