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Putting the heat on

Israel strikes against Palestinians continue in bid for soldier's return; critics say goal is to overthrow Hamas

BY MATTHEW MCALLESTER | Newsday Staff Correspondent

June 30, 2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza - Israel continued its campaign to secure the release of a kidnapped soldier yesterday, firing missiles at two targets in Gaza and arresting 64 Hamas legislators and cabinet ministers.

In a new development, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told Egypt's leading pro-government newspaper that Palestinian militants have agreed to a conditional release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, but that Israel has not yet accepted their terms.

Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said Israel was not aware of the offer.

Despite its postponement of a northern offensive, Israeli warplanes hit the Palestinian Interior Ministry in downtown Gaza City early today, setting it on fire. No one was hurt. The Israeli military said the ministry office, controlled by Hamas, was "a meeting place to plan and direct terror activity."

Israeli warplanes struck more than a dozen times after midnight, hitting a Fatah office and a Hamas facility in Gaza City as well as roads and open fields. During the day, aircraft and artillery pounded sites across the coastal strip, including suspected weapons factories, an electrical transformer and militant training camps.

Palestinian hospital officials said a 5-year-old girl was wounded, though not seriously, in a northern airstrike early today.

During the day, Israeli soldiers found the body of a second kidnapped Israeli, an 18-year-old settler named Eliyahu Asheri. He had been shot in the head and was found near the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The Hamas lawmakers were arrested early yesterday and could be charged with terrorist offenses, Israeli officials said. Palestinian officials accused Israel of seizing the politicians to use them as bargaining chips in the larger attempt to free Shalit, a claim Israeli officials denied.

"This is not a government," National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said, referring to the Hamas-led Palestinian government. "It is a murderous organization."

The pressure from Israel on the Palestinian government and people is now considerable.

Yesterday, Israeli air strikes hit the Palestinian electricity distribution network, striking two power transformers in northern Gaza and plunging parts of the area into darkness, Palestinian officials said. Two security officers were wounded by shrapnel, they added.

Israeli military officials said they were not aware of the electricity infrastructure being targeted.

About 65 percent of Gaza remains without reliable electricity as a result of Israeli air strikes on a power station Wednesday. The territory has no access to new oil supplies, all routes out of Gaza have been sealed and trade is impossible.

Many Palestinians and their leaders are convinced that the Israeli government not only wants to free Shalit but intends to bring down the Hamas-led government and perhaps try to destroy the organization.

In Moscow, where the foreign ministers of the G-8 industrialized nations are meeting, diplomats issued a joint statement yesterday urging restraint regarding the crisis.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis continued.

"I believe that you will see that responsible Palestinians are also engaged in efforts to get this soldier released - and that is a very important point to make - as well as some regional actors that are engaged."

This story was supplemented with an Associated Press report.