Hamas calls for new offensive after "Israel" kills 9 Palestinians on weekend including a girl sniped inside her home w

Source: AP, 23-4-2007
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas called Sunday for a fresh wave of attacks against "Israel" after "Israeli" forces killed nine Palestinians over the weekend, straining a five-month-old ceasefire.
In response to the bloodshed, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas` more moderate Fatah movement urged him to consider breaking off contacts with the "Israeli" government, despite his pledge to the United States to hold regular meetings with "Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Hamas and Fatah are partners in a coalition government.
Among the nine Palestinians killed in the weekend upsurge of violence were two gunmen and a 17-year-old who died Sunday in the West Bank. The fighting also included a Palestinian rocket attack on the southern "Israeli" town of Sderot that damaged a home.
"Israeli" officials defended the killings as part of operations that have drastically reduced the number of attacks against "Israelis". Palestinian officials, however, said that the deaths jeopardized their efforts to expand the Gaza truce to the West Bank.
"The blood of our people is not cheap," a Hamas statement said, inviting Palestinians of every ideological stripe to unite and "use all possible means of resistance and to respond to the massacres."
Fatah also called for measures against "Israel". "The Arab and the Palestinian leadership should evaluate the contacts with Olmert`s government and reconsider these contacts and meetings," Fatah spokesman Abu Hakim Alwad said at a news conference.
"`Israel` is sabotaging the efforts made by the president to maintain calm and to strengthen the ceasefire," Alwad said.
Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Olmert, said "Israel" will continue its operations against Palestinian insurgents, while "always doing our utmost to avoid any innocent casualties."
Occupation troops killed the Palestinian teenager Sunday in a village near Ramallah. Palestinian officials said he was throwing stones at an "Israeli" patrol when he was shot. The army claimed soldiers opened fire as the youth was about to throw a firebomb at a military jeep.
Earlier, an army task force raided stage a raid in Nablus, killing two Palestinian gunmen, including Amin Lubadi, a top bombmaker who had been wanted by "Israel" for more than three years. The army said an "Israeli" soldier was lightly wounded.
After weeks of relative quiet, the latest surge in violence began Saturday, when five people were killed during "Israeli" arrest raids in the northern West Bank.
Sniper at home
Palestinian officials said one of the dead was a 17-year-old girl shot by troops as she stood at the window of her home. The army said its soldiers had returned fire from a gunman in a window, but said the incident was being investigated.
In the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinians fired a rocket at the "Israeli" town of Sderot, hitting a house but causing no injuries. The army subsequently attacked a car it said was carrying the attackers, killing a 37-year-old man. Palestinian officials said he was a civilian.
"Israel" is still in control of the West Bank, and unlike Gaza, that territory is dotted with Jewish (Zionist) settlements, making a ceasefire there a different issue. "Israel" has been reluctant to agree to a West Bank truce, concerned that armed Palestinian groups would take advantage of it to hit settlers and prepare attacks in "Israel".
"Israel" sealed the West Bank and Gaza Strip early Sunday ahead of the country`s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers, restricting the movement of Palestinians into "Israel".