Israel Is Accused of Sending Poison to Hamas Premier

Hamas on Monday accused Israel of a failed assassination attempt against Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh using a poison-filled letter.

Several employees in the office of Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer in the West Bank city of Ramallah were hospitalized after one of them opened a letter addressed to Haniyeh. The letter contained a tissue that gave off a strange smell, filling the room and overwhelming several employees, Palestinian sources said.

Seven employees were hospitalized, one in serious condition.

An Israeli army spokesman who declined to give his name denied any involvement by Israeli troops or officials.

During a Cabinet meeting in Gaza City, Haniyeh called the incident a “criminal and dangerous act,” according to the Ramattan news agency.

He said the letter was sent from Tel Aviv addressed personally to him.

Shaer promised a full investigation, saying the tissue had been sent to a lab for analysis.

In 1997, Israeli agents tried to kill Hamas senior leader Khaled Meshaal in Amman, Jordan, by injecting poison in his ear. The attempt failed, and the agents were captured and later exchanged for jailed Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

Haniyeh, whose Hamas-led government is opposed by Israel, has been unable to leave the Gaza Strip since taking power in late March because of Israeli limitations.

Dozens of Hamas-affiliated ministers and lawmakers have since been detained without charges by Israel, most recently parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik, who was hospitalized by his captors Monday. An Israeli army spokesman said Dweik had complained of dizziness and chest pains and was being kept overnight for observation.

In Gaza City, supporters of Islamic Jihad held a rally in support of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. About a thousand protesters marched through Palestine Square downtown, waving black Islamic Jihad banners and yellow Hezbollah flags and chanting, “We are loyal to you, O Nasrallah.”

They also harshly criticized the anemic response of Arab governments to the Israeli offensive in Lebanon and to the ongoing siege that has paralyzed the Gaza Strip and killed at least 170 Palestinians.

Islamic Jihad senior leader Khalid Batch condemned what he called “the international silence over Palestine that has given Israel the right to kill and commit massacres.”

Nasrallah’s popularity has soared throughout the Arab world during the nearly 4-week-old Israeli offensive. Hezbollah flags and posters of Nasrallah are some of the hottest-selling items in Gazan stores.

The Lebanese Shiite Muslim group has long been well regarded among opponents of Israel for its protracted guerrilla war, which helped lead to the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon in 2000.

Special correspondent Hatem Shurrab contributed to this report.