Free Republic

Hamas has rejected suggestions from an Israeli cabinet minister that some Palestinian prisoners could be freed as a "goodwill gesture" if militants released a captured soldier and stopped rocket firing. "Our people have no faith in goodwill gestures," Hamas law-maker Mushir al-Masri told Reuters. "There is no talk at the moment about the missing soldier, we are talking about 30 Palestinian martyrs and 100 wounded in an Israeli military aggression against our people." Hamas has said for the first time that Corporal Gilad Shalit was alive, and demanded negotiations for his release. Israel has refused to negotiate with Hamas. More...

Palestinian militants preparing for an expected Israeli armoured assault on Gaza have vowed to deploy suicide bombers against advancing tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Militant leaders are activating volunteers who have lain dormant because security measures make it all but impossible for Palestinian bombers to attack Israel from fenced-off Gaza. Only a handful of suicide bombers have emerged from Gaza, including a British national who exploded a bomb outside a bar in Tel Aviv in April 2003, killing three. A militant from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades But in the warren of streets just off the main north-south road through Gaza,...

Israeli aircraft attacked the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Gaza City early Sunday, witnesses said, setting the building on fire. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The Israeli army had no comment. Witnesses said two missiles hit the south side of the building, setting it ablaze. Because of the late hour - 1:45 a.m., the building was empty, they said. On Thursday, Israeli planes attacked the Interior Ministry, part of Israel's campaign to force release of a soldier abducted by Palestinian militants last Sunday.