Israel could recapture Gaza Strip, minister warns (2nd Roundup)

Mar 28, 2010, 19:26 GMT

Jerusalem - Israel escalated its war of words against the Islamist Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, after a weekend in which bloody clashes in the salient left two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinians dead.

Addressing ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel held Hamas responsible for the latest violence, and said Israel's response would be 'sharp and vigorous.'

Before the cabinet session, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz had told Israel Radio that Israel would recapture the Gaza Strip if left with no other choice. He added that Israel would also not allow Hamas to rearm itself with long-range missiles.

The weekend clashes broke out Friday afternoon, after Israel sent a force into the salient after spotting two men placing explosive devices along the border fence.

It was the first deadly incident in which Israeli soldiers have been killed since Israel's devastating offensive against Gaza militias 14 months ago.

The Israeli force left the Strip Saturday morning.

'Israel's policy of response is sharp and vigorous,' Netanyahu told the cabinet.

'We will respond sharply to any attack on our citizens and soldiers. This policy is well-known and will continue. Hamas and the other terrorist organizations must know that they will bear the responsibility for their actions,' an official cabinet communique quoted him as saying.

The Israeli army chief Gabi Ashkenazi on Sunday visited the area where Friday's exchange of fire took place and warned Israeli troops of the possibilty of further military confrontations.

'We must be prepared for the possibility of additional incidents' Ashkenazi told soldiers stationed at the Israel-Gaza border.

The Israeli army unit in the area is the 'wall between the terrorists and the communities,' he added, calling on the soldiers to remain loyal to the mission in the area.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but launched the winter offensive a year ago in response to ongoing rocket and mortar attacks from the coastal enclave at its southern communities. Both it and Hamas have faced allegations of war crimes committed during the war and in the run-up to it.

Hamas had largely observed an unwritten truce for much of the past year, but recent weeks have seen sporadic launchings of rockets from the Strip against Israel. Although other Gaza militias are behind those launchings, Israel holds Hamas, as the de facto authority in the Strip, responsible.

Israeli analysts Avi Issacharof and Amos Harel, however, said that the recent violence does not mean Hamas is interested in inciting another war.

'There is no doubt that Hamas is satisfied with the renewed attention the media has given to an area that has ceased to interest the world, but it does not appear that, at this point, there is a will in Hamas to begin a real escalation,' they wrote in the Ha'aretz daily Sunday.

'The organization,' they said, 'is mainly interested in reminding Israel, the PA, and the United States, that it still exists.'

An Israeli military spokesman, meanwhile, announced Sunday morning that the West Bank will be closed off from midnight Sunday until midnight, April 6, for the duration of Passover holiday.

However, people needing medical attention will be allowed to enter Israel, and humanitarian aid, as well as doctors, NGO workers and lawyers will be able to enter the West Bank.

The closure is in keeping with the Israeli practice of sealing off the occupied territories ahead of Jewish festivals, fearing militants might try to launch attacks to disrupt the festivities.

On March 27, 2002, a Hamas suicide bomber killed 30 people and injured 140 more when he blew himself up in an Israeli hotel at the beginning of the traditional Passover feast.

Passover, which commemorates the Exodus of the Israelis from Egypt, begins this year at sundown Monday, and ends at sundown, Tuesday April 6.