GAZA: Gaza militants vow to resume suicide bombings in Israel as army's offensive continues

Palestinian militants in Gaza vowed revenge against Israel on Saturday (November 4) after Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the coastal strip, including four militants, in the worse surge of violence in months. The violence came a day after Israel killed 17 people, about half of them civilians and including two women acting as human shields between troops and gunmen hiding in a mosque in Beit Hanoun. Israel's army said it only fired at armed Palestinians. As large Israeli forces continued operating in northern Gaza, militant groups vowed to take revenge. "We warn the Zionist leadership: if they don't stop the aggression within the next 48 hours, we, in the Palestinian resistance, declare with God's willing that we will resume our suicide operations that will hit your cities and villages inside the Occupied territories of 1948," Abu Abeer, a spokesman for the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees said in Gaza City. "If the aggression continues on northern Gaza, we will increase our attacks on Sderot and the rest of the occupied cities, and our rockets will reach deep inside (in a way) that the leadership of the enemy doesn't expect," said a masked gunmen in a tape that was handed over to Reuters in Gaza. In Gaza City, hundreds of angry Gazans demonstrated in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council building to protest against the Israeli assault and the international community's indifference. "We condemn the silence of the international community and international security forces, because they are not doing enough to stop Israeli aggression against our people. We blame the Arab and European countries and the fourth committee because there are signs until this moment which there are more and more massacre that are happening in Beit Hanoun and Jabalia," said Khaled al-Batsh, leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza during the protest. Israel says the operation, one of the biggest since the army and Jewish settlers pulled out of Gaza a year ago after 38 years of occupation, aims to halt rocket fire at the Jewish state. The violence has scuttled hopes of any resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, already a remote prospect since the Hamas militant group took power in March following elections. Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction. Some 14 Palestinians had been wounded in various strikes and clashes, hospital officials added. Israeli forces have killed 39 people in the four-day assault, the Palestinian health ministry said. Beit Hanoun, home to 30,000 Palestinians, has been under an effective curfew since troops moved in, residents say. On Saturday, soldiers using loudspeakers told residents that women had two hours to go out and buy food, witnesses said. An army spokesman said troops had not seized Beit Hanoun. "There are warnings and recommendations to stay off the streets, but there is no official lockdown," he said. But in Gaza City, as a sign of solidarity with the residents of Beit Hanoun, businessmen closed their shops and declared a general strike for the day. The Beit Hanoun operation is part of a broader offensive launched in late June following the abduction of an Israeli soldier by militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza. Since the start of that offensive more than 300 Palestinians have been killed, half of them civilians, hospital officials and residents say. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed. Palestinian militants have fired around 300 homemade missiles at Israel this year from Gaza, Israel says. They mostly cause minor injuries or panic. The Gaza operation in meant, among other things, to stop the launching of rockets from Gaza into Israel, Israeli officials say.

ITN Source | November 4, 2006

Tags:. .committee. .wounded. .suicide. .blame. .wing