Israel assassinated Hamas’ interior minister and two other senior terrorists yesterday in what may be the final push before a one-year truce in the Gaza Strip.

A devastating airstrike flattened a Gaza City home and killed Said Siam, who headed the Hamas 13,000-man police force.

The blast also killed Siam’s son and brother, as well as the leader of Hamas’ general security service and its military commander in Gaza City.

Also yesterday, Hamas gunmen fired from inside the United Nations headquarters in Gaza, triggering an Israeli shelling that wounded three people and destroyed thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is visiting the region, demanded a “full explanation” and said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a “grave mistake.”</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group said Saturday that a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was an important member of the organization, accusing Israel of being behind the killing.

Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh was a "loyal" member and a "scientist of Palestine's youth scholars." It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had made "important contributions" and participated in international forums in the field of energy.

Hamas initially stopped short of blaming Israel, saying only that he had been "assassinated by the hand of treachery." But later its top leader accused Israel's Mossad spy agency of killing him and threatened retaliation.

Ismail Haniyeh said Saturday that based on previous assassinations "Mossad is not away from this disgraceful, terrible crime."

"There will be an unsettled account between us and it," Haniyeh said at the Gaza mourning tent, referring to Mossad. "We cannot give up on the blood of our sons, youths and scholars."

The Israeli government had no comment. But Israel has a long history of suspected targeting of wanted Palestinian militants in overseas operations around the globe and has been linked to other assassinations as well, though it has rarely publicly acknowledged them.

Malaysian police say the 34-year-old al-Batsh was gunned down early Saturday by two assailants who shot at least eight bullets from a motorbike as he was heading to a mosque for dawn prayers in Kuala Lampur. It said closed-circuit television footage showed him targeted by assassins who had waited for him for almost 20 minutes.

Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the government was looking into the possibility of the involvement of "foreign agents" in his killing. He told media that initial investigations showed the assailants were "white men" driving a powerful BMW 1100cc motorbike.

Besides his Hamas affiliation, al-Batsh was also a cousin of Khaled al-Batsh, a senior official in the Islamic Jihad militant group, who accused Mossad of the assassination, without providing evidence.

Though Hamas stressed al-Batsh's scientific background, the funeral service of the Islamic movement's militant wing suggested al-Batsh was actually one of its military commanders. At a mourning tent in the Gaza Strip, a banner described al-Batsh as a member of the military wing. Ten masked militants in camouflage uniforms stood in a line outside the tent in Jebaliya, the slain man's hometown, to greet mourners. The ceremony is typical for senior Hamas commanders.

Al-Batsh specialized in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for the past eight years and was an imam at an area mosque.

He received his doctorate from the University of Malaya in 2015 and was a senior lecturer at the British Malaysian Institute. His official biography said his research interests included power converters, power quality and renewable energy.

However, Israeli media reported that he was also deeply involved in the Hamas drone development project.

Israel and Hamas are bitter foes who have fought three wars since 2008. Tensions have risen in recent weeks with a series of mass protests along the Gaza border in which 32 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops since late March.

Information for this article was contributed by Eileen Ng of The Associated Press.</s>JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has arrested 15 Hamas operatives in an overnight West Bank raid.

The military says Sunday those captured are suspected of collaborating with a well-known Hamas operative from Gaza to spread its activities to the West Bank, which is governed by the rival Fatah movement. The raid comes after Hamas accused Israel of assassinating one of its men in Malaysia and amid a wave of mass protests along the Gaza border that have turned violent.

In three weeks of protests, Israeli troops have killed 32 Palestinians and wounded some 1,600. Hamas says the protests are against a decade-long blockade of the isolated strip. Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and only targeting instigators. It says Hamas uses the protests as cover for attacks.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The Latest on developments related to Gaza protests (all times local):

Israel's defense minister says Gaza's Hamas rulers are the "only culprits" in the death of a Palestinian boy who was killed by Israeli army fire in protests on the Gaza-Israel border.

Avigdor Lieberman alleged on Twitter that Hamas uses women and children as human shields. His comments Saturday came after a top U.N. envoy in the region, Nikolay Mladenov, said it is "outrageous to shoot at children" and demanded an investigation.

The Israeli military has not commented on the killing of Mohammed Ayyoub. Gaza health officials initially gave his age as 15, but a local rights group, citing official documents, said he was 14.

Ayyoub was one of four Palestinians killed Friday by Israeli army fire in the fourth round of weekly border protests led by the Islamic militant Hamas.

Health officials say Israeli soldiers firing from across a border fence have killed four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, and wounded more than 150 others as several thousand people in blockaded Gaza staged a fourth round of weekly protests on the border with Israel.

Huge black plumes of smoke from burning tires engulfed the border area on Friday. Some of the activists threw stones toward the fence or flew kites with flaming rags dangling from their tails.

The latest deaths brought to 32 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in protests since late March. More than 1,600 have been wounded by live rounds in the past three weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.</s>JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has arrested 15 Hamas operatives in an overnight West Bank raid.

The military says Sunday those captured are suspected of collaborating with a well-known Hamas operative from Gaza to spread its activities to the West Bank, which is governed by the rival Fatah movement. The raid comes after Hamas accused Israel of assassinating one of its men in Malaysia and amid a wave of mass protests along the Gaza border that have turned violent.

In three weeks of protests, Israeli troops have killed 32 Palestinians and wounded some 1,600. Hamas says the protests are against a decade-long blockade of the isolated strip. Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and only targeting instigators. It says Hamas uses the protests as cover for attacks.</s>GAZA - More than 100 members of the 700-seat Palestinian National Council (PNC) want to delay a rare session of the Palestinians' top decision-making body, saying on Sunday they were concerned some factions would be shut out.



The PNC is due to convene in the city of Ramallah on April 30 to discuss US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a policy change that has outraged the Palestinians.





In a letter obtained by Reuters to PNC speaker Saleem al-Zanoun, 109 legislators, including independents and delegates from Hamas and the mainstream Fatah faction, urged the session's postponement.They said that going ahead with the meeting, with only narrow factional representation due to Israeli travel restrictions on delegates from Hamas-controlled Gaza and outside the Palestinian territories, would deepen internal divisions."In order to spare our Palestinian cause imminent dangers and out of our eagerness to achieve unity and end splits and division, we urge you to delay the PNC session," said the letter.There was no immediate word from Zanoun whether he would agree to the request, which followed word from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Thursday that it would boycott the session because it wanted more factions to attend.In Ramallah, Mohammad Sbeih, the PNC's secretary, declined to comment directly on the letter but told Reuters there will no delays.Signatories of the letter said additional time should be given for the implementation of a reconciliation deal that Fatah and Hamas, an Islamist group that advocates Israel's destruction, signed in October.The agreement has faltered over differences on power-sharing in the Gaza Strip, territory that Hamas seized from Fatah forces in 2007.The PNC last met in extraordinary session in 2009 to replace several members of the PLO's Executive Committee. It last held a regular session in 1996.Political analysts in Gaza said a PNC meeting without wide factional representation would weaken the legitimacy of any decisions it may take.</s>Israeli troops shot dead four Palestinians on the Gaza-Israel border, upping to 35 the death toll in recent weeks among Palestinian protesters demanding the right to return to their former homeland, Plestine.

 Gazans used catapults and sling-shots to launch stones at Israeli forces, and some Palestinians brought wire-cutters to cut through the border fence, ignoring leaflets dropped by the Israeli military warning residents not to approach the frontier.

 The deaths included a 15-year-old boy shot dead in northern Gaza, Palestinian health officials said, adding that 156 people were wounded by Israeli gunfire.

 UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov wrote on Twitter: “It is outrageous to shoot at children! How does the killing of a child in Gaza today help peace? It doesn’t! It fuels anger and breeds more killing. Children must be protected from violence, not exposed to it.”

 In response, a retired former Israeli army spokesman, Peter Lerner, tweeted suggestions to Mladenov, including: “Please go to Gaza, engage Hamas and get them to stop sending people to the fence.”

 The planned six-week protest campaign reached its half-way point on Friday, which saw smaller crowds than in recent weeks. As the numbers peaked during the afternoon Israeli soldiers called out warnings in Arabic over loudspeakers to anyone who approached the border fence. Black plumes of smoke from piles of burning tyres billowed over the area, and stretcher-bearers rushed to carry the wounded to first aid posts.

 The protest began on March 30, and has seen tent encampments spring up near the Israeli-imposed restricted zone along the 40km border fence. The protesters have revived demands for Palestinian refugees to regain their ancestral homes in what is now Israel.

 The protests are scheduled to culminate on May 15, when, according to Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, the Gaza scenes would be replicated elsewhere on Israel’s frontiers.

 “I say to our people everywhere, be prepared for a human deluge on all of the borders of Palestine, inside the occupied land and outside the occupied land,” he said on a visit to one of the border camps. “I say to the (Israeli occupiers) your time is gone.”

 Israel’s use of live fire has drawn international criticism but the Israeli government says it is protecting its borders and takes such action when protesters come too close to the border fence.

 The Israeli military said that around 3,000 Palestinians were involved in the latest protest, and that its troops responded “with riot dispersal means and are firing in accordance with the rules of engagement.”

 Israel accuses Hamas, the Islamist militant group which rules Gaza, of staging riots and trying to carry out attacks.—Agencies</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Latest on developments related to Gaza protests (all times local):

Israel’s defense minister says Gaza’s Hamas rulers are the “only culprits” in the death of a Palestinian boy who was killed by Israeli army fire in protests on the Gaza-Israel border.

Avigdor Lieberman alleged on Twitter that Hamas uses women and children as human shields. His comments Saturday came after a top U.N. envoy in the region, Nikolay Mladenov, said it is “outrageous to shoot at children” and demanded an investigation.

The Israeli military has not commented on the killing of Mohammed Ayyoub. Gaza health officials initially gave his age as 15, but a local rights group, citing official documents, said he was 14.

Ayyoub was one of four Palestinians killed Friday by Israeli army fire in the fourth round of weekly border protests led by the Islamic militant Hamas.

Health officials say Israeli soldiers firing from across a border fence have killed four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, and wounded more than 150 others as several thousand people in blockaded Gaza staged a fourth round of weekly protests on the border with Israel.

Huge black plumes of smoke from burning tires engulfed the border area on Friday. Some of the activists threw stones toward the fence or flew kites with flaming rags dangling from their tails.

The latest deaths brought to 32 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in protests since late March. More than 1,600 have been wounded by live rounds in the past three weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.</s>JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israel's defense minister said Saturday that Hamas leaders are the "only culprits" in continued bloodshed on the Gaza border, as the EU and a top U.N. official made new demands to investigate shootings of unarmed Palestinians by Israeli soldiers, including the killing of a 14-year-old boy.

Avigdor Lieberman's comments on Twitter came a day after four Palestinians, including the teen, were shot and killed by Israeli army fire from across the border fence, according to Gaza health officials.

More than 150 Palestinians were wounded Friday, in the fourth round of weekly Hamas-led mass protests in the border area.

The teen, Mohammed Ayyoub, was about 150 meters (yards) from the fence when he was hit, Gaza photographer Abed Alhakeem Abu Rish told The Associated Press. He said that the boy was about to take cover when he was shot and fell to the ground, collapsing head first.

The latest deaths brought to 32 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli troops in protests since late March.

More than 1,600 have been wounded by live rounds in the past three weeks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

The rising Palestinian casualty toll signaled that Israel's military is sticking to its open-fire rules despite international criticism of the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters.

Israel has said it is defending its sovereign border, including Israeli communities on the other side. It has alleged that Hamas uses the protests as cover for attacks and for damaging the border fence. Rights groups have said Israel's open-fire orders are unlawful because they effectively allow soldiers to open fire on unarmed demonstrators.

The marches are part of what organizers have billed as an escalating showdown with Israel, to culminate in a mass march on May 15.

The top Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, said Friday that people should get ready for large crowds spilling across the border that day.

"Our people will outnumber the occupation and force it from our land," he said, referring to Israel.

The latest killings sparked new demands by a senior U.N. official and by the European Union for an investigation.

Nikolay Mladenov, a top U.N. envoy in the region, said on Twitter that it is "outrageous to shoot at children."

The European Union urged the Israeli military to "refrain from using lethal force against unarmed protesters."

Mohammed Ayyoub's father, Ibrahim, said Saturday that his son was killed in cold blood.

"Mohammed did not deserve to be executed," the 42-year-old said as mourners streamed to the family's shack in the Jebaliya refugee camp. "He was not holding a stone or a gun ... Mohammed was not running toward the fence."

The Israeli military has not commented on the latest shootings. It has said it will not allow protesters to get close to or damage the fence. On Friday, it dropped leaflets over Gaza, urging protesters to stay away.

Lieberman, the Israeli defense minister, said on Twitter that "the only culprits in the death of the ... boy in Gaza are Hamas leaders."

He said they are "cowardly leaders who hide behind women and children and send them forward as a human shield, so that they can continue to dig tunnels and carry out terrorist actions against" Israel.

Hamas says the protests are aimed at breaking a border blockade that was imposed by Israel and Egypt after the Islamic militant group overran Gaza in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliament elections.

The marches also press for a "right of return" of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from homes in the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Palestinians mark May 15, the anniversary of Israel's founding, as their "nakba," or catastrophe, to mourn their mass uprooting.

While Hamas and smaller Palestinian factions have taken a lead as organizers, the mass marches are also fueled by growing desperation among Gaza's 2 million residents.

The border blockade has trapped nearly all of them in the tiny coastal territory, gutted the economy and deepened poverty. Gaza residents typically get fewer than five hours of electricity per day, while unemployment has soared above 40 percent.</s>JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has arrested 15 Hamas operatives in an overnight West Bank raid.

The military says Sunday those captured are suspected of collaborating with a well-known Hamas operative from Gaza to spread its activities to the West Bank, which is governed by the rival Fatah movement. The raid comes after Hamas accused Israel of assassinating one of its men in Malaysia and amid a wave of mass protests along the Gaza border that have turned violent.

In three weeks of protests, Israeli troops have killed 32 Palestinians and wounded some 1,600. Hamas says the protests are against a decade-long blockade of the isolated strip. Israel says it is defending its sovereign border and only targeting instigators. It says Hamas uses the protests as cover for attacks.
Israel's Defence Forces, Border Police, and Shin Bet jointly arrest nineteen suspected terrorists, fifteen of them Hamas members detained for links to Gazan Hamas activist Khaled al-Din Hamed, in Ramallah. Troops disable a Hamas printing press and seize money and a car.