Israel vows to press on with Gaza military action

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Hamas rocket attack from Gaza killed a man in Israel on Sunday and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged unlimited military action against the militant group, saying "no one involved in terror" would be immune.

Olmert told his cabinet Israel should "be prepared for a long confrontation" and that he would not necessarily agree to halt fire if Hamas agreed to a truce deal under negotiation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group.

Hamas responded by rejecting Abbas's truce proposal as well. "We will not surrender, we will not raise the white flag," Ayman Taha, a spokesman for the group said in Gaza.

Hamas's armed wing said it had promoted members of the squad that launched the rocket into the southern town of Sderot, where it exploded on a street, spraying shrapnel into a car and causing its 36-year-old driver to slam into a wall.

He was the second Israeli to die in a rocket attack in a nearly two-week surge in bloodshed, with no end in sight to violence that has made revival of peacemaking even more remote.

Israel later launched a series of new air strikes in Gaza, targetting Hamas positions.

A missile fired from a helicopter set a Hamas executive force position on fire in Jebalya and another missile destroyed a Hamas charity office in Beit Hanoun, Hamas officials and witnesses said. A third consecutive strike was reported in Beit Lahiya, witnesses said.

Earlier Israel attacked a rocket crew, causing no injuries, witnesses said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed three aerial assaults that targetted Hamas.

Hamas gunmen resumed rocket fire on Sderot after darkness fell. One rocket slammed into a house, injuring one Israeli, an Israeli emergency service said.

"No one involved in terror has immunity -- pure and simple," Olmert said in broadcast remarks at Israel's weekly cabinet session, after the deadly Sderot attack.

His comments appeared to suggest that Hamas political leaders -- regarded by Israel as giving the green light to rocket salvoes from territory Israeli troops and settlers quit in 2005 -- might also be attacked in a wider air campaign.

CEASEFIRE

Taha, a spokesman for Hamas, said after Olmert's comments there was no point in agreeing to a truce, and reiterated the group's demand for a wider truce that would include the West Bank where Israel launches frequent arrest raids.

"Hamas rejects giving a calm for free and Hamas rejects a calm that does not cover the West Bank too," Taha said.

A senior Palestinian official said Abbas, Hamas and other faction heads had failed in talks to reach a deal for a truce with Israel, or to set a date for further talks.

But a top aide to Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said the Palestinian leader would press on. "Efforts will continue in the next few days in order to reach a truce," he told Reuters.

In broadcast remarks, Olmert said Israel would not bow to outside pressure to end its air strikes, in which more than 40 Palestinians, most of them militants, have been killed.

"We are not acting according to any timetable that is dictated externally. We will decide where, how and to what extent we act. We are acting without any limitation or directive from anyone," Olmert said.

Hamas has rejected Western demands to recognize the Jewish state and renounce violence.

An Israeli official quoted Olmert as telling his cabinet Israel would not necessarily abide by a cease-fire in any case.

"We need to be prepared for a long confrontation independent of the internal agreements of the Palestinians," the official quoted Olmert as saying at the session where ministers urged a tougher Israeli response to the rockets.

"This is a long conflict and we are not promising that we will coordinate our actions with those of Hamas whether they open fire or stop it," Olmert added, according to the official.

Gaza militants have fired more than 220 rockets at Israel since May 15, the Israeli army said.

(Additional reporting by Avida Landau in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Wafa Amr in Ramallah)