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Israeli offensive despite Hamas pledge to halt fire

Several buildings damaged in the offensive; Jihad vows attacks

— PHOTO: AP

REDUCED TO RUBBLE: Palestinian schoolgirls walk past the collapsed roof of the Akram School which was hit in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, on Sunday.

GAZA CITY (GAZA STRIP): Israeli aircraft attacked suspected weapons factories throughout the Gaza Strip on Monday, pushing forward with an offensive against Palestinian militants despite a pledge by a top Hamas leader to halt rocket fire against Israel.

The violence came as top officials from the ruling Likud Party voted in a crucial poll that could determine whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in the party or dissolves the Government and creates a new centrist party.

The vote was ostensibly about whether to move up the party primary from April to November, but Mr. Sharon and his main party challenger, Benjamin Netanyahu, have turned the poll into a vote of confidence in Mr. Sharon's leadership. Many party hard-liners said they would use their votes to punish Mr. Sharon for his pullout from the Gaza Strip. ``I hope that members of the party will come to vote against this proposal, which will badly harm the Likud,'' a smiling Mr. Sharon said as he cast his ballot on Monday afternoon.

Sound system sabotaged

Mr. Sharon was thwarted from addressing a party convention on Sunday night when his microphone cut out twice. Likud officials said the sound system had been sabotaged. After waiting for nearly half an hour, he left the hall without speaking.

The air strikes early on Monday hit targets around Gaza City as well as the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis. They knocked out power to the eastern part of Gaza City and caused damage to several buildings, but no injuries were reported.

The army said its targets included an access road leading to a rocket-launching site in northern Gaza, and weapons-manufacturing factories and storage facilities belonging to various militant groups.

Later in the day, aircraft fired missiles at an empty field that militants used to launch rockets at Israel, in a strike meant to deter further attacks, the military said.

Israel pressed ahead with its air campaign despite a call by Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar to end the group's rocket attacks. Mr. Zahar said Hamas remained committed to a seven-month-old cease-fire and he wanted to prevent further Israeli attacks.

``We call on our military groups to stop their operations against the enemy from the Gaza Strip,'' he said.

Even if Hamas stops its rocket attacks, it remains unclear whether smaller militant groups would follow suit. Islamic Jihad's top leader in Gaza Mohammed al-Hindi said the group would no longer observe the cease-fire following a deadly air strike on Sunday that killed Islamic Jihad's top commander in southern Gaza, Mohammed Khalil, and his bodyguard.

``There is no talk of a truce, there is only room for talk of war,'' Mr. Al-Hindi said.

Israeli security officials said they would wait to see whether the Palestinian attacks would in fact halt before calling off the military offensive. On Monday afternoon, militants launched a mortar shell at an Israeli community north of Gaza, the army said. There were no injuries or damage, they said. — AP

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