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Missile hits Hamas PM's office
02/07/2006 09:06 - (SA)
Gaza City - Israel struck at the heart of the Palestinian government on Sunday, hitting the Gaza office of the Hamas prime minister in a new wave of night-time air raids, ratcheting up the pressure to rescue an Israeli soldier captured by militants a week ago.
Prime minister Ismail Haniya, who was not in his office at the time, condemned the attack, which set his office ablaze in a dramatic warning to the Hamas administration following multiple Israeli threats against the leadership.
"It's an attack against a Palestinian symbol. We ask the international community and the Arab League to take its responsibilities towards our people and intervene" to end what he called Israel's "insane policy" he said.
The fifth straight night of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip followed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's insistence that mediation efforts to free the captured soldier were continuing despite reports that talks had stalled.
"Things have not reached an impasse and efforts continue to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties and resolve the issue of the prisoner in exchange for some things," Abbas, a member of the rival Fatah faction, told reporters in Gaza City.
"The coming hours will be sensitive and dangerous. Efforts continue but until now no satisfactory solution has been reached."
Israel has rejected outright the demands of the militant groups which seized 19-year-old corporal Gilad Shalit in a deadly attack on an army post on the Gaza-Israel border on June 25.
Witnesses said at least one missile struck Haniya's office shortly before 02:00 (23:00 GMT Saturday), sparking a blaze swiftly doused by a team of Palestinian firefighters.
- AFP
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