Israeli planes pound Gaza after suicide bombing

JERUSALEM, MArch 31 : Israeli warplanes struck Gaza early on Friday after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed four Israelis near a West Bank settlement, an attack the new Hamas Government called a ‘‘natural response to Israeli crimes.’’

The suicide bombing by the Palestinian militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades came days after Hamas took office and Israeli leader Ehud Olmert’s Kadima party won elections on a platform of setting borders in the West Bank if peacemaking remains frozen.

Hours later, Israeli warplanes destroyed several sites in Gaza and artillery gunners fired shells in open areas in the territory that the army says Palestinian militants use to fire rockets into Israel.

Palestinian militants in Gaza frequently fire rockets into Israel and killed two Israelis in one such attack last week.

Mushir al-Masri, a spokesman for Hamas called the suicide attack a ‘‘natural response...to the continued Israeli killing, incursions and arrests.’’ ‘‘Our Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves,’’ said al-Masri, an elected legislator.

Meanwhile, a car explosion outside a mosque in Gaza on Friday killed a top commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group often responsible for rocket attacks against Israel, Palestinian security sources said. —Jonathan Saul

US cuts contact with Hamas-led government

WASHINGTON: The United States has suspended all contact with the Palestinian government led by Hamas, the US State Department announced on Friday. However, the administration will maintain contact with the Palestinian Authority’s representative in Washington, Afief Safieh, because ”he does not report to the Foreign Ministry,” Deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters. Ereli said US diplomats can remain in contact with Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas and the officials directly under the Palestinian Authority. “We will work with individuals and organisations who are not affiliated with Hamas,” he said. “There are a lot of people we can speak to now.” — AFP

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