The captors of an Israeli soldier abducted last week do not want to kill the serviceman despite the expiry of an ultimatum to Israel, one of three groups holding him told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday.
”Some people thought that the groups that carried out the operation will kill him but our Islamic values tell us that prisoners should be respected and not killed,” said Abu Muthanna, a spokesperson for the Islamic Army.
Together with the armed wing of the governing Hamas movement and the Popular Resistance Committees, the group captured 19-year-old Corporal Gilad Shalit during an attack on an Israeli army post on the southern Gaza border on June 25.
On Monday, they set a 3am GMT deadline on Tuesday for Israel to accept its demands, having previously asked for the release of 1 000 Palestinian, Arab and Muslim prisoners, as well as of Palestinian women and juniors held in Israel.
But Israel rejected the ultimatum and pressed on with its military offensive against the Gaza Strip.
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, said in a statement that he held the Palestinian Authority fully responsible for the welfare of Shilat. ”Israel will not give in to extortion by the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas government, which are led by murderous terrorist organisations … We will not conduct any negotiations on the release of prisoners,” he said.
Amir Peretz, the Defence Minister, said Israel also held Syria responsible for the fate of the soldier. ”I suggest that [the Syrian President] Bashar Assad, who is trying to operate with his eyes shut tight, open his eyes, because he is responsible,” he said. Syria hosts Khaled Mashal, the Hamas leader who is believed to have authority over the soldier’s captors.
Israeli forces continued their low-level military campaign to pressurise militants to give up the soldier. Aircraft bombed targets and ground forces moved into areas of north Gaza around Beit Hanoun. Israeli forces, who have already occupied part of southern Gaza, shot dead three Palestinians they accused of being about to attack them.
While Israeli forces have inflicted severe damage to Gaza’s infrastructure and killed several people, their operations have not yet matched the bellicose rhetoric of Israeli politicians.
In Beit Hanoun, crowds on street corners watched to see if Israeli forces would move further into their town. Soldiers had taken over two houses on the outskirts and forced the families to remain in a single room, a common practice during Israeli incursions. The Israeli soldiers use the houses as advanced sniping positions.
Jamal Masri (35) a relative of the two families, said the soldiers had moved in at around 4am amid some shooting. He was waiting to see if the troops advanced, at which point he and his 13 children would take shelter in their basement. ”We cannot leave. We have nowhere else to go. Even now they are bringing up more tanks on transporters to the border,” he said.
There were few signs of preparations to resist the Israeli advance into Beit Hanoun. Further west, in Jabaliya refugee camp, men dug holes for explosives and prepared sandbagged emplacements.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army said it had moved into areas near its border fence close to Beit Hanoun and its aircraft had hit targets in Beit Lahiya and Gaza City. One missile hit a first-floor flat in a tower block east of Beit Lahiya. Residents said it was uninhabited.
Hussein Nuizin (22) who lived below, said the missiles struck at 2.30am, shaking the building. His bed was covered in debris from the flat above. Nuizin, who was paralysed by an Israeli bullet in 2000, said a friend had just moved him from his bed before the missile strike.
Efforts to break the deadlock continued as the Israeli press reported that Israel was considering freeing Palestinian prisoners without ”blood on their hands”.
The families of Palestinians in Israeli jails held their weekly vigil at the Gaza City office of the Red Cross. Dozens of mothers and wives held framed photographs of their sons and husbands. Fatima Hassanein said her son, Hazan (25) had been sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment for membership of Hamas. ”The kidnapping of the Israeli soldier has given me hope that somehow my son can be freed. If the soldier is freed without the release of Palestinian prisoners in return, I will be very angry,” she said. – Guardian Unlimited Â