Israeli tanks head for Gaza as reprisals loom

In Bethlehem, negotiators worked to salvage an agreement, which collapsed just before it was to be implemented, to end the 38 day standoff around the Church of the Nativity.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators accused each other of violating the terms of the deal to let most of the 123 Palestinians out of the shrine.

’’The situation is very, very delicate, people are exhausted,’’ said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. ‘‘I prefer to be optimistic ... and think a solution will be found.’’

Tanks were parked tonight outside Gaza, the home base of the Hamas militant group, and Israeli forces around the strip were being beefed up.

But Hamas leaders in Gaza - a sliver of Mediterranean coastline two-thirds of which is under Palestinian autonomy - said they were going about life as usual.

Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin planned to attend a wedding reception for one of his seven daughters.

Another Yassin leader, university lecturer Mahmoud Zahar, said he was staying at home to prepare exams, and a Hamas spokesmen, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, said his schedule was filled with TV interviews.

Mohammed Dahlan, Yasser Arafat’s security chief in Gaza, said the Palestinians were expecting an attack.

’’Everyone is prepared and our people know how to confront the occupation,’’ said Dahlan, who has been in the West Bank town of Ramallah for months.

‘‘We said this before, and we mean it now - if the occupation forces carry out an aggression, we will face this aggression.’’

Earlier, the Israeli Cabinet approved unspecified reprisals in response to a Hamas suicide bombing on Tuesday in a Tel Aviv suburb pool hall and illegal casino.

Fifteen Israelis were killed in the attack, the deadliest since Israel launched its West Bank military offensive on March 29 in response to a wave of suicide bombings.

The current reserve call-up was smaller than the one that preceded that operation, during which troops occupied six of the eight main Palestinian towns for periods of up to several weeks and fought running battles with Palestinian gunmen.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres hinted Israel might have a more limited operation in mind this time.

‘‘Striking at centres from which the suicide attackers come, or the houses from which they come, or the nests from which the organisation of suicide bombers comes.’’

Military sources said the operation will be centred on Gaza, but may not be restricted to Gaza.

The objective is to hit at Hamas leaders and end the sense of immunity the militants in Gaza have enjoyed, senior official sources said.

Military commentators also said they expected the Gaza operation to be more limited than the West Bank offensive.

Fighting in densely-populated Gaza would be much more complicated and could expose troops to greater risks.

EU envoy Miguel Moratinos condemned the suicide attack, but said the EU was ‘‘very concerned’’ it could lead to increasing violence and a new military action.

The EU was working with the United States, Russia and the United Nations to try to prevent that, he said.

Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat criticised the expected operation.

’’Such an attack will lead to disastrous consequences for the Palestinian people there,’’ he said. ‘‘This will be adding fuel to the fire.’’

In Gaza City, Hamas officials reported that 16 of their members were arrested by Palestinian police today.

None of the senior members of the group were among those taken into custody, however.

In the past, Palestinian police have temporarily detained Hamas leaders, but then released them soon after. In some cases, it appeared the Palestinians took the moves largely to protect the Hamas leaders from possible Israeli attack.

Israel has accused the Palestinian Authority of taking such action to give the appearance of a crackdown on militants, saying their subsequent release showed the arrests were not serious.

President George Bush’s spokesman reacted cautiously, saying the key test will be whether those arrested remain in custody.

’’We’re looking into the reports of the arrests,’’ White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

In Bethlehem, a resolution to the church standoff appeared distant again Thursday, just hours after a partial deal had been reached.

Under that agreement, which was to have been implemented today, several dozen Palestinians were to have left the shrine, including 26 wanted men who were to be driven to Gaza under US escort.

Thirteen accused militants slated for deportation were to remain behind until a host country could be found.

Each side accused the other of derailing the deal at the last minute.

Israeli negotiators said they rejected an unexpected Palestinian demand that a European monitor enter the church to stay with the 13 most wanted militants until they were deported.

Palestinian negotiators said Israel had initially agreed to the European monitor, changing its position at the last minute.