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Israel launches raids into Gaza
Perhaps this ought to bring the fighting between Hamas and Fatah to an end. Nothing unites Arab enemies like Israel:
Quote:
Israel launches raids into Gaza
Israel has launched air raids in Gaza and deployed tanks and infantry across the border after it vowed a severe response to rocket attacks on its soil.
It said its land force was small and had been deployed as a deterrent.
At least three militants were killed in four separate air raids, one of which targeted Hamas offices in Gaza City.
The Israeli attacks came as fighting eased between Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah. It has left at least 40 people dead in the past five days.
Correspondents say the rocket attacks into Israel appeared to be an attempt to draw it into an internal Palestinian conflict, although the Israeli defence ministry denied its attacks were linked to factional fighting.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads Fatah, on Thursday suddenly called off a trip to Gaza that had been billed as an effort to shore up the fourth Hamas-Fatah ceasefire in five days.
Officials said he might now travel from Ramallah in the West Bank on Friday.
The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi says control of the security forces appears to have been the trigger for the latest factional fighting but that it has now developed a momentum of its own.
Armed supporters on the ground may no longer be paying attention to orders from their political leadership, he says.
On Thursday in Washington, US President George W Bush said both he and visiting UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were urging all parties to work for peace.
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BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel launches raids into Gaza
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