Israelis Poised for Gaza Attack After Abduction

Israel massed troops and tanks along the frontier with the Gaza Strip on Monday as diplomats sought to win the release of an Israeli soldier captured a day earlier in a deadly raid by Palestinian militants.

The incident has threatened to ignite a conflagration between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group that took power three months ago in the Palestinian territories.

A consortium of Hamas-linked Palestinian groups claiming to hold Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, demanded the release of Palestinian female and underage prisoners in Israeli jails in exchange for information that could lead to his release.

Shalit, a tank gunner, was seized in a cross-border raid before dawn Sunday that left two Israeli soldiers dead and seven wounded. Two Palestinian attackers were also killed in the clash, which came after militants crossed the border through a tunnel that Israeli officials said probably took months to dig.

Israel ruled out any prisoner swap and demanded Shalit’s immediate and unconditional release. Israeli officials again hinted at the possibility of retaliatory measures, including the assassination of Hamas’ political leaders or a wide-ranging military offensive in Gaza, if any harm came to the soldier.

No Israeli soldier had been taken prisoner by Palestinian militants for 12 years, and the drama has captivated Israelis.

Huge photographs of Shalit -- gangling, dark-haired and bespectacled -- covered the front pages of newspapers. Headlines referred to him by his first name. His family appealed to his captors not to harm him.

“Those who are holding him also have families and children, and they know what we are feeling right now,” Shalit’s father, Noam, told reporters. “I hope they are treating him reasonably and remembering that he is a human being.”

Shalit holds dual French and Israeli citizenship, and French diplomats, without providing details, confirmed their involvement in efforts to free him. Mediators from Egypt, which has tried to resolve conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians and among quarreling Palestinian factions, were also reported to be in contact with the various parties.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated that Israel held the Palestinian leadership, not only the Hamas-led government but also moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, responsible for the soldier’s safety.

Olmert’s senior security advisors set a deadline of today for Shalit’s release, and the prime minister said Israel was prepared to launch a crushing strike if the demand was not met.

“I gave the order to our commanders to ready our forces for a broad and ongoing military operation to strike the terrorist leaders and everyone else involved,” Olmert told a tourism conference in Jerusalem.

Olmert also made a thinly veiled threat to strike directly at the elected leaders of the Hamas government, a step Israeli commentators acknowledged could have far-reaching diplomatic and military repercussions.

“Let it be clear: We will reach anyone and everyone, wherever they are hiding, and they know it,” Olmert said. “There will not be immunity for anyone.”

Any all-out offensive, however, was expected to wait until after Israeli officials believed other efforts to free the soldier had been exhausted.

The attack in which Shalit was seized came a day after Israeli commandos carried out the first arrest raid inside Gaza since Israel withdrew last summer. The troops seized two Hamas militants.

The Palestinian militant factions claiming responsibility for Sunday’s attack said it was in retaliation for a series of Israeli airstrikes that killed a number of militant leaders in recent weeks.

The last time an Israeli soldier was captured by Palestinian militants, in 1994, a failed rescue operation resulted in his death and that of a commando in the rescue force.

In the past, Arab militants, including those from the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, have used Israeli soldiers, or their remains, as bargaining chips for the release of prisoners.

The demand for the release of Palestinian prisoners who are female or younger than 18 was signed by three factions: Hamas’ military wing, the Popular Resistance Committees and a smaller splinter group.

Such prisoners are believed to number several hundred.

The Hamas government contends that it had no role in planning the abduction and did not know where the soldier was being held. Both Hamas’ leadership in exile and elements of its military wing are believed to hold far more extreme views than those who chose to seek office and participate in the government.

Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, drew criticism from even left-leaning Israeli politicians. He has been trying for months to persuade Hamas to abandon its armed struggle and accept Israel’s right to exist.

“Abu Mazen needs to know this is the moment of truth, and a test for him,” said lawmaker Yossi Beilin, referring to Abbas by his widely used nickname. “I expect him, as head of the Palestinian Authority, to do all he can to bring about the release of Shalit.”

The infiltration into Israel by Palestinian militants, the first of its kind since Israel withdrew from Gaza, also sparked harsh public criticism of the military establishment, including Defense Minister Amir Peretz, over what was seen as a crucial lapse in vigilance along the sensitive Israel-Gaza frontier.

Israeli troops on Monday blew up the tunnel, which reached 900 feet into Israel, that the attackers used to slip under the border fence.