ME truce in tatters

An Israeli soldier raises his arms in celebration as an Israeli army canon fires artillery shells into the Gaza Strip from a section of farmland located near the southern Israeli community of Nahal Oz yesterday. Israel test-fired artillery shells in Gaza Strip after receiving the green light to use all means necessary to put an end to rocket attacks by militants. PHOTO: AFP

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned yesterday "all means" would be used to end attacks on Israel. Security officials said the military was preparing for possible artillery attacks and a ground invasion unless the Palestinian Authority or Hamas itself halts the rocket attacks.

The army fired several artillery rounds into empty fields in northern Gaza in preparation for a possible attack, the military said. The firing was intended as a drill to determine possible coordinates for a future attack and there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The new offensive dubbed "Operation First Rain" dashed hopes that Israel's recently completed Gaza withdrawal would help restart peace talks and left a seven-month-old cease-fire teetering on the brink of collapse.

The fighting also turned up already intense pressure on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to confront militants, and weakened Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as he parries a challenge to his leadership.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Abbas Saturday evening and urged him to preserve the truce and stop further deterioration.

A group of senior Israeli Cabinet officials, led by Sharon, approved the military operation at an emergency meeting late Saturday after Hamas militants fired nearly 40 rockets from Gaza at southern Israeli towns. The rocket barrage, which injured six Israelis, was the Islamic group's first major attack since Israel concluded its Gaza pullout two weeks ago.

"There shall be no restrictions on the use of all means to hit the terrorists and the terror organizations, their equipment and their hideouts," Sharon said at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

The no-holds-barred fight against terror will apply to Gaza and the West Bank.

"The order is unequivocal. We do not mean a one-off operation. We mean ongoing activity whose aim is to hit the terrorists," Sharon said.

In a further sign the truce was unravelling, the military arrested 207 wanted Palestinian men in the West Bank overnight, most of them members of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements. The military has conducted sweeping arrests of Islamic Jihad militants since the February cease-fire with Palestinians. But this is the first time it has detained large numbers of Hamas members.

Among those arrested were Hassan Yousef and Mohammed Ghazal, two of the most prominent Hamas leaders in the West Bank, Hamas officials said.

Maj. Gen. Yisrael Ziv, the head of military operations, hinted Israel was preparing to resume assassinations of top Hamas leaders, a practice suspended after the February cease-fire. Asked whether the leaders were in danger, he said: "Let them decide for themselves."