Source: Compiled by Daily Star, 07-11-2006
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew herself up near "Israeli" troops on Monday in a Gaza town where "Israeli" forces had killed two women acting as human shields for militants, residents said. The "Israeli" military, confirming the suicide attack in Beit Hanoun, said one soldier was slightly wounded and evacuated to hospital in the first such bombing since April.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Relatives identified the bomber as Mervat Masaoud, 18 a student at Gaza`s Islamic University. They said one of her cousins had blown himself up, along with another bomber, at "Israel's" Ashdod Port in 2004 in an attack that killed 10 people.
On the Palestinian political front, President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to the Gaza Strip for talks with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya on a unity government they hope can ease Western sanctions against the Hamas-led administration.
A government spokesman said Hamas has chosen a candidate to take over as prime minister from Haniyya, one of the Islamic group`s leaders, once a deal with Abbas is finalized. Past talks aimed at completing an agreement have failed.
Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad declined to identify the proposed replacement.
"Palestine is bigger than all of us," Haniyya told a meeting of his cabinet in what sounded like a farewell speech. "It is very easy for us to move to another position in the interests [of our people]."
Hamad did not say whether Hamas` PM candidate belonged to the movement.
Leading Hamas MP Yahya Moussa announced on Sunday an agreement in principle with Fatah on a unity government of technocrats that would not be headed by Haniyya.
On the ground in northern Gaza, "Israeli" air strikes killed two militants and a civilian, witnesses and hospital officials said. A civilian wounded on Friday died of his injuries in hospital.
"Israeli" forces have killed at least 52 Palestinians, almost half of them civilians, in the five-day operation in northern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials have said.
"We have no intention of conquering Gaza," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the start of a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "We have declared that we will never accept the ongoing [rocket] fire and that we would take any steps needed to considerably reduce the fire and prevent terror activity."
The operation, mainly focused on the town of Beit Hanoun, is one of the biggest since "Israel's" army and Jewish settlers were pulled out of Gaza last year after 38 years of occupation.
"It is obvious that the "Israeli" escalation aims to make the Palestinians pay a high price regarding the "Israeli" soldier issue and tighten the siege of the Palestinian nation," Izzat al-Risq, a senior Hamas official, said in Damascus.
Senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat accused "Israel" of war crimes.
"These attacks represent a massive escalation that is likely to lead us to more violence and more suffering," he said.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar called on Arab states Monday to act urgently help end the crisis.
The minister said that Arabs must "assume responsibility toward the Palestinian people and act urgently through international organizations and by all methods to put an end to the "Israeli" aggression."