Israel tightens squeeze on Hamas govt

The Palestinian officers who had been working alongside Israeli counterparts in the office at the entrance to the town were given until noon to pack their bags in the latest sign of the total breakdown in relations between the two sides since the Islamist group formed its first government last month.

An army statement said that the move was "in accordance with a decision made by the political echelon" and comes following a new pledge by Israel's acting premier Ehud Olmert to have no links at all with the Hamas regime.

"Israel will not hold ties with the Palestinian Authority which is a hostile authority," he said on Sunday during a meeting with security chiefs.

Olmert has consistently said that he would have no contact with a Hamas-led government but the move to cut contacts at such a low-level as the district coordinating office indicates a new determination to make life as difficult as possible for Hamas to govern properly.

Israel has also instituted a boycott of foreign diplomats who meet any members of the new government, although officials who meet with the moderate Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas will not be shunned.

As part of the diplomatic drive to isolate Hamas -- which has been behind dozens of suicide attacks in the five-year uprising -- the European Union and United States have cut funding to the Palestinian Authority.

The decision by the EU to freeze funding was expected to be rubber-stamped later in the day at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg, despite the fierce protests of the already cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.