GAZA: Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza kills two Palestinians; Hamas rejects truce

Record ID: 341899

  • Title: GAZA: Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza kills two Palestinians; Hamas rejects truce
  • Date: 17th June 2006
  • Summary: (W4) GAZA CITY, GAZA (JUNE 16, 2006) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) WIDE OF PALESTINIAN RESCUE TEAMS AND GAZA RESIDENTS GATHERING AT SITE WHERE AN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE KILLED TWO MILITANTS VARIOUS OF PALESTINIAN PARAMEDICS AND SECURITY MEN STRUGGLING TO TAKE BODY OUT OF BURNT CAR
  • Embargoed: 2nd July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVAD2WJLFGZ54JRNZIUCQH0XVC03
  • Story Text: An Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza killed two Palestinians on Friday (June 16), medics said, in an attack that came just hours after Hamas militants stepped back from a Palestinian government offer to renew a ceasefire with Israel.
    An Israeli army spokeswoman said the strike targeted Islamic Jihad militants in the vehicle who were responsible for recent rocket attacks. The group has killed hundreds of Israelis in such strikes and in suicide bombings.
    Earlier, Hamas militants distanced themselves from a ceasefire offer that the Palestinian government led by the Islamist group made to Israel, while other armed groups also spurned the proposal.
    Violence has increased in recent weeks. Israel killed more than a dozen Palestinians in recent days, including militants and civilian bystanders, while militants in Gaza have increased rocket attacks into the Jewish state.
    About 120 rockets landed in Israel over the past week, the army spokeswoman said, although such attacks have decreased in the past two days.
    The surge in rocket strikes erupted after seven Palestinians died in an explosion on a Gaza beach, which the Hamas-led Palestinian government blamed on Israel.
    Differences over the truce offer, which was conditional on Israel stopping raids and air strikes in Gaza and the West Bank, could point to disagreement between the Hamas grassroots and the government over tactics.
    Hamas's armed wing scrapped a 16-month truce with Israel a week ago and soon after launched a barrage of makeshift rockets at the Jewish state from the Gaza Strip. But a government spokesman made a new ceasefire offer on Thursday.
    Israeli officials have not commented on the ceasefire offer.
    The Jewish state regards Hamas as a terrorist organisation and along with the United States and the European Union has imposed an economic embargo on the new government.
    Despite the sanctions, Hamas has rejected Western demands to recognise Israel's right to exist and disarm.
    European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels agreed on Friday on an aid scheme for Palestinians that will bypass the Hamas-led government. The EU said it was close to winning the backing of the United States and other Middle East peace brokers.
    Israel has threatened to target top Hamas leaders if rocket fire continued.
    The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and the Islamic Jihad group both rejected the government's truce offer.
    Abbas, locked in a power struggle with Hamas, has stepped up pressure on the group by calling for a referendum on a statehood proposal that implicitly recognises Israel. Hamas has called the July 26 referendum an attempt to topple the government.
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