TEL AVIV — Israel is reviewing a plan to assassinate Hamas leaders due to the failure of other measures to stop an escalation in Palestinian
missile strikes.
Under the recommendation, the military would first concentrate on
destroying Kassam missile facilities and personnel. In the second stage, the
targets would include Hamas political leaders.
The plan does not include a
ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, a key recommendation of the military's
Southern Command, Middle East Newsline reported.
"We are preparing for all plans," Defense
Minister Amir Peretz said. "We have many
possibilities. We have enough means and we will use them against any source.
No position will serve as a shield for somebody whom we have determined was
involved in the planning and launch of fire."
Officials said the plan marked a series of options ordered by Peretz as Palestinian missile attacks from
the Gaza Strip continued to increase. They said Peretz and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz have
concluded that Hamas, directed by the leadership in Damascus, has been
responsible for the launch of scores of Kassam-class, short-range missiles
toward Israel over the last five days.
"There is tremendous frustration in the military," an official said.
"Everything that has been approved has not worked."
Officials said Peretz, who rejected a military plan to invade the Gaza
Strip, has told military commanders that he would approve additional
measures. But Peretz, who has suspended artillery fire against Kassam
missile squads, was said to have delayed any operation against Hamas leaders
for at least two days.
On Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began a four-day European tour
that included meetings with British and French leaders. Olmert said he would
brief European leaders on his plan for a unilateral withdrawal from more
than 90 percent of the West Bank.
On June 8, Israel assassinated Interior Ministry director-general Jamal
Abu Samhadana, the architect of most of the missile strikes against Israel
over the last year. Under the military plan, Palestinian missile squads,
their operators and financiers would be targeted.
On Monday, Tsahi Hanegbi, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee, said the new military policy could target PA Prime
Minister Ismail Haniya. Hanegbi said Haniya could join late Hamas leaders
Ahmed Yassin and Abdul Aziz Rentisi, killed in Israeli air strikes in 2003.
"Yassin and Rentisi are waiting for Haniya if you maintain this
disgusting policy of indiscriminate fire and suicide bombings," Hanegbi said
in an interview with Israel Army radio.
On Sunday, the Israel Air Force killed two senior Hamas operatives in
northern Gaza suspected of firing missiles toward the Israeli city of
Sderot, where Peretz lives. An Israeli was seriously injured.
"We will continue to pursue the Kassam squads and the Kassam
manufacturers and those who dispatch them because we feel that we cannot
simply hold our position while all the citizens of Israel are under threat,
cannot simply sit on the side and watch, because that is not our job,"
Halutz said. "Our job is to continue to deal with the Kassam rockets, their
launchers and manufacturers."
Overnight Monday, Palestinian gunners fired another 14 Kassams toward
Israel. Most of the missiles fell around Sderot.
"We have decided to turn Sderot into a ghost town," Hamas said in a
statement.