Israel, Hamas intensify attacks

Israel targeted Gazan militants in at least one airstrike yesterday, injuring four Palestinians, as Hamas continued its rocket attacks on Israeli border communities a day after taking responsibility for the first suicide bombing in Israel in more than a year.

Hamas said the militants in the bombing of the Israeli town of Dimona on Monday that killed one woman came from the West Bank and not Gaza. The origin of the bombers cast light on Israel's demands that moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rein in militants before there can be movement in US-backed efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year.

The escalation in violence underlined the possibility that Hamas could seriously hamper the peace efforts. Abbas has no effective control over the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized control of the coastal territory from Abbas-allied forces in June. Israel insists on an end to violence, including from Gaza, before it implements any peace agreement.

Early yesterday, Israeli aircraft fired at militants who had launched rockets moments earlier, the army said. Hamas said that four of its men were moderately injured in the strike.

Gaza militants said Israel carried out several airstrikes overnight, but the army confirmed only one. On Tuesday evening, three civilians were lightly injured in an airstrike.

Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli border communities on Tuesday and early yesterday, moderately wounding a 14-year-old girl and knocking out power in parts of the hard-hit town of Sderot.

The rocket salvo came after six Hamas policeman were killed on Tuesday when Israeli aircraft fired missiles on a Hamas outpost in southern Gaza. Israel said the airstrike was retaliation for a rocket attack on Sderot on Tuesday morning in which two factories were hit, causing damage but no injuries.

The latest round of Hamas-Israel fighting followed two weeks of anarchy on the Gaza-Egypt border.

The rising violence suggested that Gaza's Hamas rulers are increasingly lashing out not just at Israel, but also at Egypt, as they are running out of options for ending a seven-month blockade of the territory.