Israel Launches Airstrikes in Gaza and Arrests Militants in West Bank

Israel launched a wide-ranging crackdown Saturday on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, killing two of its members in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip and rounding up 206 militants in arrests across the West Bank.

Those arrested in a series of raids that began before midnight and ended at dawn today were mainly from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Israel’s military said. Israeli news reports said detainees included Sheik Hassan Yousef, a senior Hamas political leader, but the army could not immediately confirm his arrest.

In the 24 hours preceding the Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian militants from Hamas and other factions fired three dozen crude Kassam rockets toward the Israeli town of Sderot. Six Israeli civilians were wounded, one of them seriously, the Israeli military said.

In Gaza, Palestinian witnesses and medical officials said the two men were killed Saturday afternoon when a missile fired by an Israeli aircraft slammed into their vehicle in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian officials identified both as members of Hamas’ military wing. A second airstrike targeted another vehicle traveling in the same area, but its passengers apparently escaped.

At dusk Saturday, the Israeli army opened fire on what it said was an open field that had been used by Palestinian militants to launch rocket attacks. An Israeli army spokeswoman described it as “warning fire.” No casualties were reported.

The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which included the evacuation of about 8,500 Jewish settlers in August and the departure of Israeli soldiers on Sept. 12, has raised hopes for a resumption of dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian officials. But the Israeli government has said any move toward peace negotiations is impossible while Palestinian militant groups continue to use Gaza as a staging ground for attacks on Israel.

Senior Israeli security officials met Saturday to discuss the rocket attacks. “Israel does not intend to let these events pass unnoticed,” Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said. “The response needs to be very harsh.”

Underscoring that warning, Israel on Saturday set up artillery posts on the frontier with Gaza. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened in the past to respond to attacks from Gaza with artillery fire, but he has been warned by Israeli officials that such imprecise strikes would probably lead to heavy civilian casualties.

Israeli troops all but sealed off the West Bank and Gaza, sharply restricting entry to Israel by Palestinians.

Although its soldiers have left Gaza, Israel took pains to remind Palestinians that the territory was far from immune from military reprisals. Israel massed troops and armor on Gaza’s northern border, and manned and unmanned aircraft flew overhead all day Saturday.

Several times, sonic booms caused Palestinians on the streets of Gaza City to flee in panic, seeking cover.

Saturday’s airstrikes and raids came a day after an explosion ripped through a Hamas rally in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing 15. Witnesses and Palestinian officials said the blast was set off by homemade rockets being paraded in an open truck, although Hamas blamed Israel and vowed revenge.

“Whoever sows suffering and death among our people will in turn reap suffering and death in their own cities,” Hamas’ military wing said in a statement Saturday.

Funeral marches for the dead were held Saturday in Jabaliya, on Gaza City’s outskirts. But in a rare sign of tension between Hamas and its refugee-camp constituency, families of some of the civilian victims declined to parade their bodies in Hamas military-style processions.

The violence comes as Sharon is heading into a showdown with Benjamin Netanyahu, his chief rival within the Likud Party. Netanyahu, who quit his post as finance minister in protest of the Gaza withdrawal, predicted that the pullout would lead to a sharp increase in attacks by Palestinian militant groups based in the territory.

The Likud’s decision-making body, the Central Committee, is to vote Monday on a bid by Netanyahu and his allies to advance the date for party leadership primaries. A defeat would probably signal Sharon’s inability to retain the leadership and could trigger the collapse of his government.

Netanyahu is expected to use the outbreak of violence in Gaza as a rallying cry; Sharon in turn could choose to respond to Hamas attacks with overwhelming military force in a bid to strengthen his standing in the conservative Likud.

The explosion at the Jabaliya rally came only a day before Palestinian militant groups were to begin adhering to a ban on the parading of weaponry.

“There will be no more military processions,” said Yousef, the Hamas leader. “Hamas weapons will go into the shadows.”

It appears that Israel is seeking to win over Gaza residents in its escalating confrontation with Hamas. Israeli aircraft dropped thousands of pamphlets throughout Gaza accusing the militant group of misleading and endangering the populace.

“In order to advance its own personal interests, Hamas is spreading lies that can harm you,” read the Arabic-language brochures. The pamphlets also called on the Palestinian Authority to act against anyone planning attacks against Israelis.

Times special correspondent Fayed abu Shammalah in Gaza City contributed to this report.