Israeli minister issues new Gaza warning
A senior Israeli Cabinet minister today warned of a harsh military response in the Gaza Strip if an abducted Israeli is harmed by his Palestinian captors.
Justice Minister Haim Ramon made the threat after the militants holding Cpl Gilad Shalit implied the soldier would be killed if Israel does not begin releasing Palestinian soldiers by tomorrow morning.
“If God forbid, they should hurt the soldier, our operations will be far, far worse,” Ramon told Channel 2 television.
Ramon is a close ally of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Israel already has ground troops inside Gaza and has carried out numerous airstrikes in the area since Shalit was abducted in a cross-border raid on June 25.
The three Palestinian militant groups that captured an Israeli soldier have given Israel until 6am tomorrow to start releasing Palestinian prisoners or “pay the full future consequences”.
The statement, which was faxed to news agencies today, did not expressly say what those consequences would be.
“We give the Zionist enemy until 6am tomorrow,” the fax said. “If the enemy does not respond to our humanitarian demands mentioned in previous leaflets on the conditions for dealing with the issue of the missing soldier…we will consider the current file of the solider to be closed. … and then the enemy must bear all the consequences of the future results.”
The fax was posted on the official Hamas military wing website. It had the same letterhead and font as three earlier statements the factions released.
Cpl. Gilad Shalit (aged 19) was captured on June 25 in a cross-border raid by militants linked to the Palestinians’ ruling Hamas party, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam.
The group initially demanded the release of about 500 women and children prisoners, then raised its demands to include an additional 1,000 prisoners.
Israel has publicly said it would not negotiate Shalit’s release, but privately, political and defence leaders have not ruled out releasing prisoners who weren’t involved in actual attacks on Israel.
Last week, Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip to pressure militants to free the soldier. It holds the Hamas government responsible for Shalit’s capture on Israeli territory.
There has been no sign of evidence of the soldier’s condition, though Israeli officials have said they think he is alive.
Earlier, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert stepped up pressure on the Palestinian government, ordering his military to “do all it can” to free the abducted soldier and hinting Israel may arrest Hamas leaders in Gaza.
Olmert’s threat, just hours after an Israeli air strike blasted the Palestinian prime minister’s office yesterday, signalled that the government was losing patience with diplomatic efforts to end the crisis and was planning to escalate its military offensive.
Israeli aircraft, gunboats and artillery have pounded the Gaza Strip since Israeli troops and tanks took up positions in southern Gaza on Wednesday in an operation aimed at pressuring Palestinians to free Shalit.
“These are difficult days for Israel, but we have no intention of giving in to any form of blackmailing,” Olmert said. “Everyone understands that giving in to terror today means an invitation to the next act of terrorism, and we will not act that way.”
