Hamas officials warned that Israel can forget about soldier Gilad Schalit, if senior Hamas officials are killed by Israel. Speaking on Saturday just hours after a series of Israeli air strikes were  launched against Hamas facilities in Gaza, Abu Obeida declared that ongoing air attacks on Gaza will threaten Schalit's release and he will disappear.
"The enemy knows that getting Schalit back is in our hands," he said. "It would be a dream that Hamas would release him while attacks continued," he added. Schalit was abducted last June and has since been held captive in Gaza.
Over the weekend Israel launched over ten air strikes targeting Hamas positions and command centers affiliated with its security forces. Palestinians reported at east five were killed in the raids.

Abu Obeida vowed an "earth-shattering” response, should Israel target Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh or any other senior Hamas member. “The Zionist enemy must realize one thing and that is that it can forget about the soldier Schalit if it harms one of Hamas’ political or military leaders,” Abu Obeida warned. He revealed to reporters that Hamas has in its possession what he described as advanced weapons which will sooner or later be used against Israel. He and other Hamas officials warned that the group would also renew suicide bomb attacks in Israel and abudct additional IDF soldiers if Israel's military response continues.

Since May 15, over 220 Kassam rockets were fired at Israel, the majority landing in Sderot and the surrounding area. An Israeli woman was killed and scores wounded. Speaking on Channel 2's "Meet The Press', former Chief of General Staff Lt.Gen. (Res) Moshe Yaalon advised launching a widespread operation in Gaza similar to Operation Defense Shiled launched by the army in the West Bank in 2002. Ya'alon said he feared that if Israel fails to launch a ground offensive in Gaza, it is only a matter of time before Palestinians fire katyusha rockets at Kiryat Gat and Ashdod.05/27/07.

Margot Dudkevitch

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