An Israeli missile hit a car carrying Islamic Jihad activists in Gaza City, killing five Palestinians and injuring seven, Palestinian doctors and witnesses said. According to the AP, doctors said three of the victims were innocent young bystanders and some of the wounded were children.
The Israeli attack targeted senior Islamic Jihad operative Munir Sukar. Islamic Jihad fighter Ashraf Shaluf was also killed in the missile strike. The bystanders were identified as Ahmed Sousi, 17, and 10-year-old Raed Al-Batsh and his 14-year-old brother Ala Al-Batsh.
Earlier, an explosion rocked Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, killing two boys, a local hospital said. The victims were aged 14 and 15. The cause of the blast was not known.
Zahar
Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Zahar who currently serves as chairman of the faction in the Palestinian parliament has reportedly been chosen as the leading candidate for the post of Palestinian foreign minister.
Al Zahar will be appointed on the condition that President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction turns down the opportunity to join a coalition government with Hamas.
If Fatah accepts the offer, the foreign ministry portfolio will be granted to a Fatah candidate instead, according to Asharq al Awsat newspaper.
Most expect that Fatah will opt against joining Hamas in a unity government.
Al Zahar's appointment will undoubtedly further strain ties between the West and Hamas, especially as he represents a relatively conservative wing of the movement.
55-year-old Al Zahar, a pediatrician by trade, served time in both Israeli and Palestinian prisons. While serving in a Palestinian jail in 1996, Al Zahar was reportedly tortured by his captors, and required hospital treatment.
During the course of the recent Al Aqsa uprising, the Israeli military targeted Al Zahar's Gaza Strip home with a missile. The attack resulted in moderate injuries to Al Zahar and to his family members.
Meanwhile, in another sign of the rifts between the two sides, Fatah legislators walked out of the parliament on Monday after Hamas took initial steps to revoke powers the previous legislature granted President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas decided to put the issue of the president's enhanced authority on the agenda of the new parliament's first working session. "We have tried through dialogue and contacts with Hamas to resolve this issue before, but they are insisting on domination," said Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Fatah bloc in parliament, according to Reuters.
Abbas enjoys now the power to appoint judges to a constitutional court without seeking legislative approval. Following this, a senior Palestinian official accused Hamas lawmakers of attempting to oust Abbas.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
