"Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Israel killed three members of a Gazan family in a botched air strike
Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:18am EST
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed three members of a Gaza family in a botched air strike on Wednesday and shot dead a West Bank militant leader, a day after Palestinians said some of the worst violence since late 2006 could harm peace moves.
As Palestinians held a general strike over Israel's killing on Tuesday of 18 people, most of them armed men, an Israeli missile aimed at Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza hit the wrong car and killed three civilians, including a 13-year-old boy.
This week's upsurge of violence followed the launch of the most ambitious Middle East peace talks in seven years and a visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank by U.S. President George W. Bush to shore up efforts for a deal on Palestinian statehood within a year.
"When I say I'm coming back to stay engaged, I mean it. When I say I'm optimistic we can get a deal done, I mean what I'm saying," Bush said in Egypt, ending his week-long visit to the region.
He has said he plans to return for Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations, due to be held in May.
Illustrating the obstacles Bush's peace drive faces, a right-wing party quit Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition on Wednesday, condemning the talks and leaving him more politically vulnerable.
In Gaza, body parts were strewn around the twisted metal of a wrecked car after the air strike, and the boy's blood-smeared shoes lay tossed to the side.
Witnesses and medics said the strike killed three members of the same family. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the missile hit the wrong car and the incident was being investigated.
Israeli troops also killed Islamic Jihad leader Walid Obeidi in a gunfight near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian witnesses said.
Israel says it will press on with a campaign to curb rocket and mortar bomb fire from the Gaza Strip and stop West Bank militants from launching attacks. An Israeli police spokesman said 44 rockets and mortar bombs were fired from the territory on Wednesday, causing no casualties.
ISRAELI SOLDIER
In Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Israeli military action in the past two days had dashed prospects for a prisoner exchange deal involving an Israeli soldier held by the group.
"I tell the ... enemy: 'What you're committing will deprive you of anything you're betting on. There will be no exchange involving Gilad Shalit, no calm or nothing of this sort'," Meshaal told a news conference.
Shalit was seized by Gaza militants who tunneled into Israel in 2006. Hamas has been demanding the release of 1,400 out of more than 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails in exchange for the soldier.
Gaza poses one of the biggest problems for negotiators trying to broker a deal to create a Palestinian state.
Violence rages almost daily in the territory between Israeli forces and militants who pound southern Israel towns with rockets.
While Gaza is meant to form part of a future state, it is controlled by Hamas militants who oppose peace moves with Israel and are hostile to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
In a rare show of unity, both Hamas and Abbas's Fatah faction declared three days of mourning for those killed in Tuesday's raids, ordering the closure of government offices, businesses, shops and schools.
Gaza's streets were empty and parents kept their children home from school. Shops were shuttered in the West Bank city of Ramallah, usually a bustling business hub and home to the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian flags flew at half-mast.
Israel's Olmert also faces domestic opposition to peace talks, and had his support in the 120-member parliament cut from 78 seats to 67 after the right-wing party Yisrael Beitenu bolted from his fractious coalition on Wednesday.
Olmert said the loss would not deter him from continuing to pursue a peace agreement with Abbas, saying negotiations held "the only real chance of ensuring the peace and security of Israeli citizens."
(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Wael al-Ahmed in Jenin and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah; Writing by Rebecca Harrison; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)"
