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Gaza militant killed in Israeli air strike
AFP - Sunday, December 21
GAZA CITY (AFP) - - One Palestinian gunman was killed and three people were wounded by an Israeli air strike in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday as rocket and mortar fire from the territory hit southern Israel.
The raid came amid international calls for calm one day after Hamas ended a six-month truce and with growing internal pressure on the Israeli government to take tough action in Gaza.
The raid took place near the northern town of Jabaliya when warplanes fired three missiles at militants preparing to launch rockets.
Ali Hijazi, 24, a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group loosely affiliated to president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction, was killed in the attack, witnesses said.
One civilian and two militants were also wounded in the raid, and two are in critical condition, emergency services chief Muawiya Hassanein said.
The Al-Aqsa Brigades identified Hijazi as its local commander and said the dead man, who was to have been married on Sunday, was responsible for handling rocket attacks on Israel.
"We won't delay our response to this assassination. All options are open and the reaction will come from all Palestinian groups," Brigades spokesman Abu Thaer told AFP.
An Israeli army spokesman said that 10 rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel on Saturday, without causing casualties or damage.
Militants also fired 25 mortar rounds, one of which hit an empty medical centre in a kibbutz near the Gaza border.
The Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility for firing the rockets, while the armed wing of Hamas, the Islamist rulers of the besieged Palestinian enclave, said it had fired 19 mortar rounds at Israel.
Tensions have been running high in and around Gaza since Hamas said on Saturday it would not extend the June 19 truce with Israel.
Hamas and Israel have both said they will respond if attacked, but neither has said it will go on the offensive at this stage.
Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon and Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai on Saturday urged interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to hold an urgent meeting to decide on Israel's response to the escalating violence.
Ramon criticised Defence Minister Ehud Barak's policy in Gaza, branding it "a failure that is inflicting heavy damage to residents in the south of the country."
Barak has repeatedly said in recent weeks that Israel wished to maintain calm in the south, but that he was not afraid of launching a broad offensive in Gaza.
Late on Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "extremely concerned" about the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip and urged an extension of the truce.
"The secretary general is extremely concerned at statements calling into question the continuation of the Egyptian-brokered calm in and around Gaza," a statement from his office said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that renewed attacks against Israel would only hurt the Palestinians.
"Overall, Hamas needs to concentrate on turning away from violence," she told reporters.
"A renewed threat of violence against Israel is going to do nothing for the people of Gaza except deepen their misery which has been imposed by Hamas as it is," she said.
Israel responded to violence that erupted in early November by tightening sanctions and closing its crossing points with Gaza, halting deliveries of humanitarian aid and other basic supplies.
Abbas, whose effective power as Palestinian president has been confined to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas seized control of Gaza 18 months ago, held farewell talks in Washington on Friday with US President George W. Bush.
On Saturday he was heading to Moscow for a three-day visit. Russia is one of the so-called Quartet of sponsors of the Middle East peace process along with the European Union, the United Nations and the United States.
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A map locating the Gaza Strip. One Palestinian gunman was killed and three people were wounded by an Israeli air strike in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Saturday as rocket and mortar fire from the territory hit southern Israel.
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