Israel shuts down Gaza crossing

In violence on Friday, Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas squad launching rockets from Gaza, killing one militant and a civilian, Hamas said. Ten rockets fell in southern Israel, including one that damaged a day care centre, but no injuries were reported, police said.

The bloodshed clouded US-backed peace talks that Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ West Bank Government renewed last month. The Gaza quagmire could complicate US President George W Bush’s efforts to prod the sides toward a final peace deal by the end of the year.

A UN agency warned that the Israeli closure of the Gaza passages would increase hardship in the impoverished territory of 1.4 million Palestinians. Hamas threatened suicide attacks on Israel if it did not end the sanctions and military raids.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak’s decision is meant to pressure the Hamas rulers of Gaza to halt rocket fire, ministry spokesperson Shlomo Dror said.

Israel kept all crossings into Gaza closed on Friday morning, meaning that about 20 trucks of food scheduled to pass during the day would not be allowed through, Dror said. The crossings are routinely closed on Saturdays, and may not be opened on Sunday morning if the rocket fire continues, he said.

Food and humanitarian supplies from Israel and aid organisations pass into the territory.

“It’s time that Hamas decide to either fight or take care of its population,” Dror said. “It’s unacceptable that people in (the southern Israeli town of) Sderot are living in fear every day and people in the Gaza Strip are living life as usual.”

Israel was grappling with how to deal with rocket fire that did not end with its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.