Israelis strike at militants in Gaza

RAFAH, Gaza Strip -- Israeli tanks and troops pushed into the southeastern corner of the Gaza Strip early today and Israeli air strikes knocked out three bridges and Gaza's power station, as the military launched an operation to rescue a corporal kidnapped Sunday by Palestinian militants.

Low-flying planes could be heard over Gaza City. Palestinian officials reported shelling in southern Gaza. Airstrikes on the power station plunged most of the coastal strip into darkness and could leave many of Gaza's 1.3 million people without water, since electricity powers many water pumps here.

Palestinian politicians made little headway yesterday trying to persuade militants to release the soldier, 19-year-old Gilad Shalit, instead announcing what they called a breakthrough in ending infighting that has paralyzed the Palestinian government.

Hamas leaders said they had agreed with rival Palestinian factions on a plan that calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, a goal that runs counter to Hamas's longtime opposition to Israel's existence. But Hamas hard-liners, including leaders based in Syria, downplayed the deal, saying details still had to be worked out, while Israel called it meaningless since it came just two days after the attack.

``On a day when there was an expectation from the whole international community that responsible Palestinian leaders would be devoting their full resources, their energy, their time [to freeing Shalit], it's disappointing and frustrating that people are dealing with an issue that is peripheral to the current crisis," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, hours before the tanks entered Gaza. ``It's almost as if people don't understand how serious the situation is."

Egyptian and other Arab officials had been scrambling along with Palestinian politicians to find a diplomatic solution, and Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, called on Israel to ``give diplomacy a chance."

On the outskirts of the southern city of Rafah, Israeli bulldozers could be seen digging on the tarmac of Gaza's airport, which Israel has not allowed to operate in recent years. A tank could also be seen on the tarmac, occasional bursts of gunfire rattled across the empty lots, and a few shells were fired. The streets of Rafah were quiet as the sun came up, and a few shops were open. A group of masked men carrying rocket-propelled grenades, mines, and machine guns said they planned to fight the Israelis, while a platoon of Palestinian Authority soldiers said they had received orders to vacate the airport shortly before Israelis arrived.

The Israeli military also said it had moved into the nearby village of Dahaniya, and that its troops would probably go no farther in the coming hours as they awaited decisions from the government. A military spokeswoman said the army would leave Gaza once the soldier was rescued.

Israeli officials said they were primarily acting against militants in Rafah, where a 300-meter tunnel was dug and used by militants to enter Israel and attack a tank with hand grenades and shoulder-fired missiles. The Israeli military said it knocked out the bridges to keep militants from moving Shalit, captured in a cross-border raid that killed two other soldiers. Israel had set a deadline of yesterday for Shalit's release.

The militant Popular Resistance Committees said yesterday it was holding Shalit after carrying out the attack along with a faction of Hamas's Qassam Brigades military wing and a new group called the Islamic Army. The group also said it was holding a Jewish settler and threatened to kill the settler unless Israel halted the military operation.

Leaders of the rival Fatah party, who have been pushing Hamas to moderate its positions, painted the agreement on the Palestinian policy document as a breakthrough concession by the militant group that won control of the Palestinian legislature in January. Members of the Hamas government said it signaled their pragmatism and desire to end the infighting among Palestinian factions that has killed dozens this year.

Both parties said they had agreed to form a unity government, giving Fatah members posts in what is now an all-Hamas Cabinet, but it was unclear how or when such a government would take shape.

Based on an agreement reached earlier this month by Fatah and Hamas prisoners serving together in an Israeli jail, the document, according to a draft provided by Nayef Rajoub, minister of religious affairs, calls for ``establishing an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty on all land occupied in 1967" and ``concentration of resistance in the occupied territories." The latter phrase suggests that any violence against Israelis would be carried out mainly in the occupied West Bank and not inside Israel.

But it was unclear how they could abide by such a deal, since militants carried out an attack inside Israel on Sunday even as the plan was being completed.

The agreement would fall far short of demands from Israel, the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations that Hamas recognize Israel and renounce violence.

Still, the deal would represent a major shift for Hamas and a victory for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Abbas has pressed Hamas repeatedly to moderate its positions on Israel, and Abbas's aides said they believe Sunday's attack was ordered by Hamas hard-liners in part to scuttle the deal.

The draft agreement laid bare a growing divide within Hamas between the hard-liners, many based abroad in Arab countries, and some leaders inside the West Bank and Gaza, particularly members of the new government who are struggling to win international legitimacy. An international boycott imposed against Hamas has cut off millions of dollars in funding and left thousands of government employees without a paycheck.

Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for the Hamas movement inside Gaza, said Hamas and Fatah had reached a deal. But Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official based in Damascus, cast doubt on its finality, saying, ``Dialogue achieved major progress, and we hope within the next few days we will reach agreement on a joint agenda, but not today."

Hamas and Fatah leaders put off a signing ceremony planned for last night, citing security fears after Abbas warned Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas that he might be targeted by Israel for assassination in response to the cross-border raid.

By agreeing to it, members of the Hamas government would be competing with Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashal and other hard-liners to set the group's agenda.

Samir Masharawi, one of Fatah's lead negotiators on the deal, said the main purpose of the agreement was to ``put an end to all tension and internal conflict."

But Khalil Abu Leila, a leader in Hamas's political wing, when asked whether the document would end infighting, said, ``To be honest, no. Fatah wants from us more than what is in this document. They want Hamas to recognize Israel and be a copy of Fatah, something that will not happen. They will make reasons to continue the conflict."

Abu Leila expressed personal disagreement with most of the document's main points and said Hamas agreed to it mainly because polls showed a majority of Palestinians supported it. ``We did not want to contradict the majority," he said.

``We will never recognize Israel," he said. ``We are in favor of an Israeli state, but not as our neighbor. Pick one of your states and give it to them."

But other Hamas figures struck a slightly more conciliatory tone, saying they were taking a realistic approach. ``We are talking practically about a two-state solution," said Ziad Dayeh, a Hamas official who worked on the deal. ``We are recognizing Israel's existence, not its legitimacy."

Globe correspondent Sa'id Ghazali contributed to this story from Jerusalem.