Israeli air strike near Palestinian PM's home

ISRAEL carried out an air strike near the Gaza residence of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas yesterday, but insisted he was not the target.

"Haniyeh's home definitely was not the target," an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

Ahmed Youssef, Haniyeh's political adviser, said the bombardment was meant to send "a message of threats" to the prime minister.

"These are all messages and signals that aim to undermine and hamper the movement of the prime minister," he said.

At an angry rally at the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, another senior Hamas figure, Nizar Rayyan, slammed Palestinian President Mahmound Abbas of the rival Fatah faction for urging Hamas to end its rocket attacks on Israel.

A day after Abbas said rocket attacks were hampering efforts to negotiate a ceasefire, Rayyan said Abbas "wants us to surrender". He added: "We will not listen to him."

Fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah broke out again two weeks ago, killing about 50 people before a relative calm in recent days. Tensions remain high, however: "Abbas hates rockets just like we hate the Jews," Rayyan said of the president.

Representatives of Fatah and Hamas may meet Egyptian mediators separately in Cairo, Palestinian and Egyptian officials said. A Fatah delegation is due there today and a Hamas spokesman said Hamas would also be prepared to meet Egyptian officials.