A cache of light arms was trans-ferred early yesterday with Israel's blessing to the forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, parliamentary foreign affairs committee chairman Tzahi Hanegbi said.
"By permitting the transfer of these arms last night, we applied a decision taken three weeks ago by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on a recommendation by the security authorities," Hanegbi told Israeli public radio.
According to the daily Yediot Aharonot newspaper, three trucks carrying 950 American M-16 automatic rifles crossed into the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan under Israeli military escort overnight on Wednesday and early yesterday.
Some 400 were delivered to Abbas's presidential guard at Ramallah in the West Bank and the remainder went to the same force in Gaza, it said.
The weapons are to enable Abbas "to cope with Hamas," the hardline Islamist group that leads the Palestinian government, Olmert said at the British parliament in London on Tuesday.
His announcement followed a decision in principle by the Israeli authorities, revealed on May 25, to authorize the supply of light weapons to Abbas's 3,000-strong guard, known as Force 17.
Meanwhile, Hamas militants continued to fire rockets into Israel yesterday, despite warnings from Israeli officials that Hamas leaders could become targets for assassination if the barrage from Gaza did not stop.
Seven rockets landed in Israel in the morning and early afternoon, slightly injuring a man in the face in the town of Sderot, while three more were fired overnight, an army spokeswoman said.
Hamas' armed wing, the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for two of the projectiles, while the smaller militant Islamic Jihad group took credit for launching four rockets.
The new rocket fire comes despite widespread Israeli media reports that an unnamed Hamas official said the movement was willing to declare a one-week truce in return for an Israeli cessation of airstrikes targeting militants in Gaza.
The Hamas official was also quoted as saying that in addition to ordering its own militants to cease the rocket fire, Hamas would be able to persuade the Islamic Jihad to halt its rocket attacks as well.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, however, denied in a written statement sent to reporters that his group had reached any agreement with Abbas on halting attacks against Israel.
Hamas's armed wing called off a 16-month truce following the deaths on Friday of seven Palestinians on a Gaza beach in what Palestinians said was Israeli shelling. Following the deaths, Hamas members joined other militant organizations in launching rockets at Israel.
Israeli officials responded to the increased rocket fire by threatening senior Hamas leaders.
"We sent clear messages," senior defense ministry official Amos Gilad told Israel Radio yesterday.
Israeli officials have suggested that Israel would strike at Hamas leaders, even Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
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