Hamas leader killed in airstrike

A senior Hamas political leader has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the first such attack in the sixth day of the offensive. The attack killed Nizar Rayyan along with four other people, including members of his family, Hamas said. Mr Rayyan was an outspoken advocate of renewing suicide bombings against the Jewish state. Since the airstrikes started on Saturday, Israel has targeted top Hamas commanders but not political leaders. Meanwhile, the Czech prime minister, who holds the European Union presidency, is organising a diplomatic mission to the Middle East to address the conflict. Mirek Topolanek, whose government took the helm of the EU from France on January 1, said it would include EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt would take part and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner would also be invited. The trip will coincide with a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the area on January 5, the first by a major power since Israel launched the airstrikes on Gaza last week. Mr Topolanek said that with outgoing US President George W Bush not taking a leading role on the conflict, it would fall to Europe to lead efforts to address the crisis. "The unpleasant thing is that we cannot count on the US administration. It is up to the European Union to take over the initiative," Mr Topolanek said. "It is overlapping with the trip of Nicolas Sarkozy to Syria and Lebanon. I spoke with (Sarkozy) for a long time yesterday and we dealt with the problem in detail." He did not specify any goals for the mission.

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ITN | January 1, 2009

Tags:. .nizar. .kouchner. .solana. .unpleasant. .karel