Enlarge imageBy Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israel launched a new strike on the Gaza Strip and arrested more than 200 suspected militants in the West Bank on Sunday as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the army to use any means to stop rocket salvoes from Gaza.
The worst surge in violence since Israel’s pullout from Gaza on September 12 after 38 years of occupation threatened a shaky cease-fire and put Sharon under pressure as he tried to defeat a rightist leadership challenge over the withdrawal.
Sharon ordered the army to do whatever it saw fit after his inner cabinet approved a resumption in assassinations of top militants, suspended in February, and gave a green light for troops to shell Gaza to stop attacks.
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"We don’t intend here to stage a one-time action, but intend to carry out a continued action, whose aim is to hurt the terrorists and not to let up," he told ministers.
Sharon spoke after a helicopter fired two missiles in northern Gaza. A military source said buildings used by militants were targeted. Similar strikes on Saturday killed two militants and hurt 20 people.
In the West Bank, troops arrested 207 suspected Islamic militants in the toughest crackdown for months. Among those held were Hamas leaders Hassan Youssef and Mohammed Ghazal, known as a relative moderate in the group sworn to destroying Israel.
Troops are poised outside the Gaza Strip for a possible ground offensive. In a show of strength, artillery practised near the boundary. Israeli media said the army operation was dubbed "First Rain".
Residents scattered in panic on Gaza streets as low flying Israeli warplanes made sonic booms. Helicopters hung overhead.
Palestinian leaders accused Israel of trying to wreck hopes of reviving peace talks that were kindled by the Gaza pullout.
President Mahmoud Abbas said that if Sharon had ordered the army to use full force it meant: "He doesn’t want peace, or security, or negotiations."
SPIRAL
The latest spiral of violence intensified when a blast on Friday killed 16 people at a Hamas rally in Gaza. One of the victims, a 12-year-old boy, died of his wounds on Sunday.
Hamas blamed Israel and militants fired at least 40 rockets into the Jewish state in response, though Israel denied responsibility and the Palestinian Authority said it appeared to be an accident caused by Hamas members carrying explosives.
Hamas vowed revenge for the latest Israeli strikes and raids. Spokesman Mushir al-Masri said the violence could "open the doors to hell." Hamas leaders would take extra precautions against Israeli attacks, he said.
Hamas has so far largely abided by a truce that Abbas agreed with Israel in February and which helped smooth the Israeli pullout from Gaza.
As well as condemning the Israel strikes, Abbas has also strongly criticised militants for keeping explosives in built-up areas, calling their actions a "massacre".
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the European Union said they were concerned by the escalation and urged restraint.
The U.S. ambassador said Washington could understand the Israeli response.
The violence could have an impact when Sharon battles on Sunday to hold on to the leadership of his ruling Likud party in a showdown triggered by rightist rival Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the Gaza pullout.
Netanyahu said it would bring more violence rather than the "disengagement" from conflict Sharon said he sought.
The vote by more than 3,000 central committee members on Monday could prompt Sharon to leave Likud and form a new centrist alliance if it brings forward party primaries as Netanyahu wants.
The violence also poses a challenge to Abbas, who has shied from disarming militants for fear of causing civil war. Because of the trouble in Gaza, Palestinian lawmakers postponed a vote of no-confidence in Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie’s government, called over a worsening internal security situation.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)
