Jerusalem – Israel shut down charities with ties to Hamas across the West Bank on Wednesday as it widened a five- day offensive against Palestinian militants despite their pledges to stop firing rockets at Israel.
Israeli aircraft fired missiles at several Gaza targets early Wednesday, knocking out power in Gaza City for most of the night, damaging several buildings and destroying an overpass.
Troops also fired live artillery shells into northern Gaza for the first time, hitting an area that the army said was used to fire rockets.
A senior army officer said Israel might shell Palestinian towns – after first giving warning – and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel was trying to teach the militants that it will not tolerate any more attacks from Gaza following its recent pullout from the area.
“It needs to be clear to them that we mean every word we say,” Mofaz said.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas traveled to Cairo to try to enlist Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a key mediator in the conflict, to help stop the crisis from escalating.
In a new phase of its offensive, Israel closed down 15 offices across the West Bank, including those of charities linked to local mosques.
Israel said the offices were used to distribute money to the families of suicide bombers and militants jailed by Israel.
Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas commentator, said the group has a support network extending from east Asia through the Persian Gulf to Europe, and that Israel would not be able to stop the flow of money and donations.
“Israel is monitoring, but it can’t monitor every channel,” he said, suggesting some of the money is brought in through smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.
In addition to its militant wing, which is responsible for hundreds of attacks on Israel in recent years, Hamas runs soup kitchens, clinics and other charities that have helped make it popular among poor Palestinians.
In one raid Wednesday, Israeli troops took computers and documents from the Tulkarem office of Zaka, a charity network that has been linked to Hamas and collects donations from mosques.
“This is a war against the groups that work to help the needy, those who need food, the orphans,” said Bilal Abu Omar, the head of the Zaka office.
The Israeli offensive was triggered by a rocket barrage launched by Gaza militants at Israel, including the border town of Sderot, over the weekend. Since then, militant groups said they would halt attacks and renewed their commitment to a 7-month-old truce, but Israel said it would press ahead with the campaign.
“We will step up our operations and our response until they stop the rocket fire,” Mofaz said in an interview with Channel Two TV. “So long as there is no quiet in Sderot, there will be no quiet in Gaza.”
Mofaz said that since Israel pulled out of Gaza after 38 years of occupation, the nation would no longer tolerate any attacks from there.
A senior Israeli army commander did not rule out shelling Gaza towns. “We will warn the population, make sure that they leave the area, while we target the sources of rocket fire,” said Maj. Gen. Israel Ziv.
Hamas accused Israel of trying to weaken it politically before Palestinian parliamentary elections in January. Israel has detained more than 400 suspected militants since the weekend, including dozens of Hamas candidates.
