Israeli airstrike puts truce bid in jeopardy

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An Israeli aircraft struck a pair of Palestinian militants Sunday, killing one man and wounding a second in new violence that raised the death toll in a weekend of rocket attacks and airstrikes to 11.

The strike cast doubts on efforts to forge a cease-fire after the deadliest round of fighting in months between Israel and Gaza militants, and raised the likelihood of a new bout of fighting.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small militant group, said the men targeted in Sunday’s strike were members of the organization. The Health Ministry of the Hamas militant group, which runs Gaza, said the attack occurred along the territory’s border with Israel.

The Israeli military confirmed the airstrike, saying the men were preparing to fire a rocket into Israel.

On Saturday, nine militants and an Israeli civilian were killed in some of the worst violence in the area in months. The exchange of fire continued overnight, with Palestinians firing 10 rockets into Israel in the early hours of the morning, and Israeli aircraft targeting six militant sites in Gaza, the military said.

But Sunday had been largely quiet after a ceasefire offer from Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian militant group responsible for most of the rocket barrages.

“When all jet fighters leave the skies of Gaza we will stop firing rockets,” said Dawud Shehab, a senior member of Islamic Jihad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not formally address the Islamic Jihad offer. In a statement carried on Israel Radio, he said his country “does not want things to deteriorate,” but would defend itself against anyone who would attack it.

Israel’s finance minister also said the country will take tougher action if Palestinians don’t stop firing rockets from the Gaza Strip.

“Sooner or later we will have to respond in a much more aggressive way,” Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Sunday in an interview with Israeli Army Radio.

The death toll in Gaza was the highest since the last two weeks of August, when more than two dozen Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes after a terrorist attack near the southern resort city of Eilat.

During the current round of violence, Israel has responded to immediate threats of militants firing mortars or rockets, but has so far stopped short of hitting larger, strategic targets.

The latest round of violence was set off by a rocket attack Wednesday by Islamic Jihad. The group said that attack was meant to mark the 16th anniversary of the assassination of its founder by Israel.

Both sides, meanwhile, have braced for further strikes.

As a precautionary measure, Israeli officials closed schools in southern communities within 25 miles of Gaza, as well as Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba and several colleges, which were to have begun their academic year Sunday, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Police brought in reinforcements from other areas of the country.

More than 1 million Israelis live within the range of rockets used by Gaza militants.

In Gaza, militants who had been emboldened to remove their masks and emerge from their hide-outs after a highprofile prisoner swap with Israel earlier in the month disappeared from the streets again. And the territory’s ruling Hamas movement scaled back its police deployment, apparently afraid that police positions would be targeted by Israeli aircraft.

Hamas militants are not believed to be involved in the attacks, which were claimed by smaller factions. But Israel holds Hamas ultimately responsible for all violence against it emanating from the territory.

Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union, seized control of Gaza in 2007, ending a partnership government with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a year after winning parliamentary elections.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, in a statement published by the Palestinian Wafa news agency, urged Hamas and Israel to avoid an escalation. He called on Hamas “not to give Israel an opportunity to exploit the situation and relaunch a war on Gaza.”

SAUDI RAISES OFFER

A member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family increased to $1 million a reward offered by a Saudi cleric to anyone who captures an Israeli soldier to swap for Palestinian prisoners.

Prince Khaled bin Talal, brother of billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, told the kingdom’s al-Daleel TV station by telephone Saturday that he was raising a previous offer made by Sheik Awadh al-Qarani, a prominent Saudi cleric who promised $100,000 for capturing an Israeli soldier.

“I tell Sheik al-Qarani that I support you and I will pay $900,000 to make it $1 million to capture an Israeli soldier to release other prisoners,” said a voice identified as Prince Khaled, who holds no official position in the government.

The Saudi offers follow in the wake of released Israeli soldier Sgt. Gilad Schalit, who was held by Hamas in Gaza for more than five years. Israel has agreed to free more than 1,000 prisoners in exchange.

Prince Khaled said he made the offer in response to what he said were Israeli threats against Qarani’s life. He did not provide any further details.

In Israel, extremists have offered two rewards of $100,000 to anyone who kills a Palestinian released in the Schalit deal if the Palestinian killed Israelis.

Extremist settler activist Baruch Marzel said he was familiar with the bounties and that there were a number of bereaved Israeli families who were looking to “settle the score” with the killers.

NEW STRATEGY

The Arab League will appoint a panel to devise a new strategy if the United Nations Security Council rejects the Palestinian bid for full membership in the international body.

Arab foreign ministers, meeting Sunday in Doha, Qatar, said in a statement that the committee of experts will discuss “all legal and political alternatives” should the Palestinian effort, which is opposed by the U.S. and Israel, be rebuffed.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, formally applied to the Security Council on Sept. 23 to make Palestine the U.N.’s 194th member state. The U.S. says Palestinians should return to the negotiating table with Israel and strike a peace agreement before acceptance to the U.N. is granted.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said in Doha that the authority may consider asking the U.N. General Assembly to upgrade its non-member observer status should the bid for full membership through the Security Council fail. Palestinian officials say they have the support of at least eight members of the 15-nation council, leaving them one short of the number needed for approval. Even if the Palestinians win the vote, the U.S. has veto power in the council.

Information for this article was contributed by Ibrahim Barzak and Amy Teibel of The Associated Press; and by Jonathan Ferziger, Saud Abu Ramadan, and Robert Tuttle of Bloomberg News.