ווי ס'זעהט אויס וועט מען שוין ליידער נישט קענען פארמיידן אן ערענסטע נקמה אקציע פון צה"ל
אולמרט שרייט די צייט לויפט אויס און כאמס זאגט זיי וועלן זיך נישט ברעכן Israel says clock ticking for Hamas over soldier
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Jun 26, 6:24 PM (ET)
[2006-06-26T173345Z_01_NOOTR_RTRIDSP_1_NEWS-MIDEAST-DC]
An Israeli soldier guides a tank on a field in the Mefalsim area on the Israeli-Gaza border June...
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By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel rejected a demand by Palestinian militants to release Palestinian women and youths in its prisons in return for information on an abducted Israeli soldier and threatened a punishing offensive in the Gaza Strip.
With tensions on the Israel-Gaza frontier at their highest since Israeli troops and settlers quit the territory last year, militants fired rockets into southern Israel late on Monday, wounding four people, the Israeli army said.
In northern Gaza, Palestinians began blocking roads with mounds of earth as Israeli armor massed on the other side of the border and Israel awaited word on the fate of Corporal Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by gunmen who infiltrated on Sunday.
Izz el-Deen al-Qassam, the governing Hamas movement's armed wing, along with the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) and the Islamic Army, said Israel would not get information about the soldier unless it freed all jailed Palestinian women and youths.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held Hamas, an Islamist group that came to power in March, and the Palestinian Authority chaired by President Mahmoud Abbas responsible for Sunday's assault.
"The question of releasing prisoners is not on the agenda of the Israeli government at all," Olmert said in a speech.
"The time is approaching for a comprehensive, sharp and severe Israeli operation. We will not wait forever," he said. "We will not become a target of Hamas-
terrorist blackmail." http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060626/2006-06-26T222422Z_01_SCH354578_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-MIDEAST-DC.html
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