Israel shells 2 Palestinian security posts in Gaza

GAZA, Apr 9 (Reuters) Israel shelled two Palestinian security posts in northern Gaza today, killing one person and wounding 15 as the army kept up its heaviest strikes on the strip since Jewish settlers and troops withdrew last year.

Israeli air strikes and artillery barrages have killed 15 Palestinians, mainly militants, since Friday.

Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who won elections last month on pledges to impose final borders with or without Palestinian agreement, said there were no curbs on the army to respond to a surge of militant rocket fire on Israel.

''Anyone who fires a rocket and anyone who participates in terror acts will be dealt with without hesitation,'' Olmert said.

Israel has also ratcheted up military strikes on Gaza since the new Palestinian government led by the militant Islamist group Hamas was sworn in at the end of March.

Palestinian security sources said one artillery shell landed on a small security base east of the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. Another hit a security position to the south while a third shell hit a house.

One civilian was killed and 15 people, civilians and policemen, were wounded, the sources said.

The Israeli army said the strikes were on sites near Beit Hanoun used by militants to fire makeshift rockets into Israel.

Israel has said it was not targeting civilians and has warned Palestinian security forces and residents to keep away from areas near the rocket launch pads.

Hamas, facing growing criticism from Gazans for not responding to the Israeli strikes, has stepped up its rhetoric against Israel. Hamas is sworn to destroy Israel but has largely abided by a year-old ceasefire that other groups have ignored.

Palestinian political analyst Hani Habib said Hamas was feeling the pressure.

''Hamas faces a very difficult and unique dilemma. It is neither able to feed the people nor defend them,'' he said.

In a sign of tensions among militant groups, the political leadership of Islamic Jihad said it had overruled an announcement by its armed wing to suspend rocket fire from northern Gaza into Israel for one week.

''There is no calm as long as Israeli aggression continues,'' Khader Habib, an Islamic Jihad political leader, told Reuters.

Islamic Jihad is one of several groups firing makeshift rockets into Israel. In recent days, most have been launched by an umbrella organisation of factions and others, including some linked to the Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas.

POLICY ON PALESTINIAN GOVERNMENT Israel has vowed not to negotiate with Hamas unless it recognises the Jewish state's right to exist, renounces violence and accepts interim peace deals.

Hamas says talks with Israel would be futile.

Today, senior Israeli ministers are expected to work out detailed guidelines on how to deal with the Palestinians in the wake of Hamas assuming power.

The guidelines are expected to allow Israel to talk to the Palestinians through the office of Abbas, who favours peace talks, or with low-level Palestinian bureaucrats.

Israel, the United States and the European Commission have suspended direct funding to the new Hamas-led government until it recognises Israel and halts violence.

The militant rocket attacks and Israeli shelling have underscored the dashing of hopes that Israel's pullout of settlers and troops from Gaza last August and September after 38 years of occupation would lead to renewed peacemaking.

Expectations that Gaza's impoverished economy might revive have also foundered, with Israeli closures of crossings into the strip hurting business and worsening food shortages. Israel says it shuts the crossings because of security threats.

Reuters