Israel launches strikes against Hamas

Gaza City: Israel launched another round of airstrikes against a militant target in Gaza early on Friday - a day after the Israeli military began targeting Hamas in retaliation for dozens of Qassam rockets fired from Gaza into Israel over the last five days, the Israel Defense Forces said.

According to Palestinian medical and security sources, the Israeli strikes on Thursday and Friday killed at least 11 Palestinians.

The cross-border attacks came as skirmishes between rival Palestinian militias within Gaza entered a sixth straight day.

The airstrikes have angered Palestinian officials, who accused the Israelis of taking advantage of violence between the Hamas and Fatah factions, which continued Thursday despite a fourth attempt at a cease-fire on Wednesday evening.

Palestinian Information Minister Mustapha Barghouti said Palestinians were "very angry" that the "Israelis (were) trying to take advantage of internal fighting."

"Israel has decided to escalate this and this could lead to disaster ... we have no peace partner," he added.

In a visit to the town of Sderot, near the Gaza border, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised to keep pressure on the militants firing the rockets.

"I am dealing with this crisis in order to remove the danger from you as much as possible," Olmert said Thursday evening. "The government will do everything that is right for you and for the security of the State of Israel."

Among Friday's airstrikes was an attack on a Hamas structure protecting some sort of tunnel, the IDF said.

In Thursday's airstrikes, the Israelis said they targeted the compound of Hamas' executive force - the movement's elite military wing - in Gaza City; a car allegedly carrying Hamas operatives with weapons, also in Gaza City; a Hamas post in northern Gaza City; and a Hamas post in Rafah near the border with Egypt.

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Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas brought the airstrikes upon itself.

"A message should be conveyed to the Palestinians whereby terror has a price: The Palestinian government is the one responsible for the aggressive actions, it bears responsibility and they choose not to control it," she said.

At least eight Qassam rockets fell in the Sderot area Friday morning, lightly injuring one person, Israeli authorities said. In the previous 24 hours, Qassam rockets hit a Sderot synagogue and a school. No serious injuries were reported, according to the IDF.

Since the start of the week, more than 100 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, according to the Israeli military.

An official from the Izzedine Al Qassam brigades, Hamas' military wing, said it's the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against "Israeli crimes" in any way they see fit, threatening possible suicide attacks.

An Israeli security source said Israeli forces have "more strategic targets" they can hit.

"We want to show the terrorists we know where they are," the source said.

In addition, the Israel Defense Forces said it sent an additional small force of tanks to join the force already in place near the border of Gaza, and a very limited Israeli force was inside Gaza near the northern section of the border.

Meanwhile, the internal Palestinian violence flared again Friday when witnesses reported seeing the Fatah-affiliated Presidential Guard firing rockets at Islamic University - considered a Hamas stronghold.

The clashes between Hamas and Fatah have killed more than 40 people since Sunday.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday to get their views on the latest violence, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.