Israelis kill two Hamas militants in Gaza

For the past seven months, since the violent Hamas takeover of Gaza in June, Israel has severely restricted access to Gaza, but basic food supplies and fuel were still getting through.

The Gaza blockade and the bombing of the government ministry are part of an Israeli attempt to halt a surge of rocket fire on Israeli border towns.

On Friday, 16 rockets hit southern Israel, including one that damaged a day-care centre. Children were inside the building at the time, but no one was hurt.

Thirty-six Gazans have been killed in Israeli attacks since Tuesday, including at least 10 civilians.

Moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday denounced the Israeli air strikes as "brutal", but also accused Hamas of trying to destroy the Palestinians' national aspirations.

Hamas was defiant today, saying it would keep firing rockets at Israel.

"We will not surrender and we will not raise white flags," said Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha.

Hamas said it had caught a would-be suicide bomber sent by Abbas' Fatah movement to assassinate Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh.

Hamas provided no evidence, and Mr Abbas' office denied the allegations, saying they were intended to divert attention from Hamas' difficulties in ruling Gaza. The Islamic militant movement seized control of Gaza by force in June, defeating Mr Abbas' forces.

Friday's attack on the Palestinian Interior Ministry appeared to signal a new phase in the cross-border violence between Israel and Gaza.

An Israeli warplane bombed the empty building, flattening one wing, killing a woman at a wedding party next door and wounding at least 46 civilians, some of them children playing football in the street.

The blast blew out windows in neighbouring high-rises, left hundreds without electricity and water and terrified residents.

Five of the wounded remained in critical condition today.

The attack was the first on a ministry building since the Hamas takeover, and was seen as a message to Hamas that Israel was ready to step up air strikes if rocket attacks continue.

The building had been empty since it was severely damaged in a July 2006 airstrike, but was seen as a symbol of Hamas authority.

Early today, Israeli forces backed by several tanks and bulldozers entered Gaza and searched homes in the town of Jebaliya. Hamas gunmen exchanged fire with the troops, and Israeli aircraft fired three missiles, killing two Hamas fighters, hospital officials said.

The military said troops captured four armed Hamas men in the Jebaliya raid and took them to Israel for interrogation.

An escalation of the Gaza fighting could complicate US President George Bush's efforts to prod the sides toward a final peace deal by year's end and sour talks between Israel and the Abbas government.

International aid said they were concerned at the Gaza closure, which was expected to last at least several days. About 120 daily truckloads of basic foods and medicine have been allowed through since June, but all border traffic was halted Friday.

The UN Relief and Works Agency, which distributes cooking oil, flour and sugar to hundreds of thousands of Gazans, said it had about two months worth of supplies in its warehouses. However, Gazans need to supplement the basics with nutritious foods, such as fruit, vegetables and proteins, which have become expensive and hard to find, said UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness.

Mr Ban, the UN secretary general, urged an immediate end to the violence in southern Israel and Gaza, including Palestinian rocket attacks, and called on Israeli troops to show maximum restraint.

The closure "cuts off the population from much-needed fuel supplies used to pump water and generate electricity to homes and hospitals," he said. "If this situation endures, the closure will also cause further shortages of food, medical and relief items in the Gaza Strip."

The International Committee of the Red Cross called on Israel and the Palestinians to respect international law and stop harming civilians.

Christoph Harnisch, head of the organisation's delegation to Israel and the Palestinian territories, said in a statement he was "in daily contact with the Israeli army and Palestinian armed factions in an effort to persuade them to respect the civilian population".

Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said Gazans had sufficient stocks of food so that no one would go hungry.

"There is a government decision that there will not be a humanitarian crisis in Gaza," Mr Dror said.

John Ging, the Gaza-based head of UNRWA, said the most immediate concern was the halt in delivery of fuel, of which there are no stockpiles.

"The supplies that are in most desperate need is the fuel," he said. "This is a very precarious situation."

He said Israeli officials told him they would meet early next week to evaluate the situation and decide whether to reopen the passages.