GAZA, June 26: Palestinian militants on Monday demanded Israel free Palestinian women and minors in its jails in exchange for information on a kidnapped Israeli soldier, but Israel rejected any deal and threatened a big offensive.
The Palestinian militant groups’ demand was their first in a standoff by three armed factions that attacked an army post in the Jewish state on Sunday, infiltrating from the Gaza Strip.
“The Occupation (Israel) will not get any information about its missing soldier unless it abides by the following: release all female prisoners in Israeli jails ... and children under the age of 18,” the statement said.
“Military Statement 1”, issued by Hamas’s Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Islamic Army, did not confirm directly the groups were holding Corporal Gilad Shalit nor give details of his condition.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the demand.
“The question of releasing prisoners is not on the agenda of the Israeli government at all,” he said in a speech in Jerusalem after the statement was released.
“The time is approaching for a comprehensive, sharp and severe Israeli operation. We will not wait forever,” he said. “We will not become a target of Hamas-terrorist blackmail.”
In Sunday’s raid, militants dug under a border fence, killed two soldiers and abducted the 19-year-old conscript. It was the first such incident since Israel quit the Gaza Strip last year.
Two attackers were shot dead in the raid that militant groups termed a response to the killing of 14 Palestinian civilians in recent Israeli air strikes in Gaza against militants behind cross-border rocket launchings.
“I announce here that we will respond. We will respond towards any terrorist, any terrorist organisation, wherever they may be. You know, and they know that we can reach them in far-off places, even when they think they are hidden and protected,” Olmert said.
Olmert held both the governing Hamas movement and President Mahmoud Abbas responsible for the assault, appearing to dash any chance of talks with the moderate leader in the near future.
REPRISALS: Troops and armour have massed on Gaza’s borders. Israeli television broadcast footage of rows of tanks on the frontier.
Israel has vowed reprisals that could include a re-invasion of Gaza, a coastal territory it quit last year after 38 years of occupation, or the assassination of leaders of Hamas, an Islamic militant group dedicated to its destruction.
On the streets of Gaza, hundreds of relatives of Palestinians jailed in Israel held a protest to demand militants hold the soldier until prisoners are released.
Israeli and Palestinian officials said Israel was holding about 100 Palestinian women and 300 minors for alleged security offences.
“The kidnapping of this soldier is a winning card in the hand of the resistance, the government and the presidency,” said Abu Haron, a spokesman for the protesters.
Top Israeli security officials were expected to meet again on Tuesday to discuss the military options if Shalit, a tank gunner, remains in captivity.
Palestinian security officials said there were negotiations with a group of gunmen that claimed responsibility for the raid.
“As of now, we have been told the soldier is fine,” one mediator said on condition of anonymity.
Egyptian emissaries were helping efforts to defuse the crisis, which has called into question Olmert’s plan to withdraw unilaterally from parts of the West Bank, the other territory the Palestinians want as part of a state.—Reuters
