Israel launched a retaliatory attack against the militant group Hamas today in the Gaza Strip. An air strike was directed at a mortar launcher and a vehicle carrying four militants and mortar shells near the town of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. The air attack failed to hit its intended target according to eyewitnesses as the four Hamas militants escaped from the car before the unmanned drone destroyed it.
The air strike followed several attacks launched by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, two militant organizations who advocate the destruction of Israel. Yesterday, Hamas launched a terror attack against an Israeli settlement in the Gaza Strip which killed two Palestinian and one Chinese worker. Hamas and Islamic Jihad also cooperated in launching mortar attacks against the Israeli town of Sderot.
Both sides took actions today to prevent further escalation of the violence. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met with his PA counterpart Nasser Yousef in an attempt to coordinate security issues.
The PA also claimed they destroyed several explosives found near a Jewish settlement in Gaza although the Israeli government would not confirm that report.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas met today with British Foreign Minister Jack Straw. After the meeting, Straw admitted that British diplomats met with representatives from Hamas from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Despite the meeting, Straw had tough words for Hamas which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and Great Britain. 'The fact that a terrorist organization stands in election does not mean it ceases to be a terror organization,' Straw said. 'Hamas will stay on that list until it declares the renunciation of violence in practice as well as in words and until it ceases to be committed to the destruction of Israel.'
Mohammed Ghazal, a Hamas spokesman said that the group would not stop committing acts of terror to appease the West. 'We are interested in the dialogue,' Ghazal said. 'But we are not able to meet their conditions now before resolving our national cause.'
