Three Palestinian militant groups holding captive an Israeli soldier threatened today to "close the kidnapped soldier's files" at dawn tomorrow unless Israel agreed to a mass release of prisoners.
But the 24-hour ultimatum demand was immediately rejected by Israel, which sent troops and tanks over the border into northern Gaza and launched a sixth straight night of air raids to pressure the Palestinians into handing over Corporal Gilad Shalit.
"Faced with the Zionist enemy’s persistence in taking military measures and aggressions, we give it a delay expiring Tuesday, July 4 at 6am (0300 GMT)," said a statement from three groups that seized the teenage conscript in an attack on an army post eight days ago.
"If the enemy does not meet the demands we laid out in our previous statement... we will consider the matter closed and the enemy will be responsible for all results," said the statement from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - the armed wing of the ruling Hamas movement - and the previously unknown Army of Islam.
The communiqué did not spell out what the consequences would be of a missed deadline and the PRC spokesman, Abu Muhajid, was no more forthcoming in a brief interview with The Times. "If they dont fulfill our demands we will close the kidnapped soldier's files," he said, repeatedly refusing to elaborate on the euphemism.
Asked whether the young soldier's body would be returned, he replied: "We didn't reach this point."
Israel, which has a force of 5,000 troops massed on the Gaza border, has so far rejected demands by militants for the release of Palestinian prisoners in its jails.
"The government of Israel will not yield to the extortion of the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas government, which are led by murderous terrorist organisations," the office of Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, said in a statement.
"We will not conduct any negotiations on a prisoner release. The Palestinian Authority bears full responsibility for the well-being of Gilad Shalit and his return, safe and sound, to Israel."
For the first time since Corporal Shalit's abduction eight days ago, Israel sent its armour into northern Gaza, although it has so held off from launching a major ground offensive.
An AFP photographer saw around 50 tanks and armoured personnel carriers cross the border and slowly snake their way through farmland before heading towards the outskirts of built-up areas.
"A limited number of troops entered the northern Gaza Strip to conduct searches for explosive devices and tunnels" dug by militants into Israel, a military source said.
In Beit Hanoun, a town in northern Gaza, Israeli drones buzzed overhead constantly, but there was no artillery firing, unlike previous days, and no sign of Israeli troop movements.
However, Palestinians on the eastern edge of town, nearest the border with Israel, claimed that undercover Israeli troops had taken over a group of houses this morning, rounded up their inhabitants and closeted 40 of them in a single room.
Omar al-Masri, 23, said that his wife, Samar, and two children were among the 40 members of the al-Masri clan being held. "They came in with dogs this morning, at 5.30am, on foot, and left their vehicles 200 metres from the houses," he said.
Mr al-Masri said that he was not in the house when they arrived because he was working in "security", but he called his family as soon as he learnt that his house had been taken over. "They told me, 'Don't come home because it's dangerous for you. There are undercover Israeli units here,'" he said. "They are searching inside the houses and breaking things."
The fields around Beit Hanoun and neighbouring Beit Lehia are regularly used by Palestinian militants to fire rockets into Israeli border towns, one of the activities that the Israeli operation is intended to halt.
But locals said that Israel's firing of hundreds of artillery shells a day into northern Gaza would not crush their sprit. "We are civilians. Why are the Israelis shelling us? Do they want us to leave? We will not leave," said Mr al-Masri.
The Palestinian ultimatum followed a series of air strikes on weapons depots, a Hamas office and buildings run by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group loosely affiliated to President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.
Yesterday, the UN special envoy to the Middle East rebuked Israel for destroying civilian buildings in Gaza and urged it to abide by international law.
Days after Israeli jets crippled Gaza’s only power station, Álvaro de Soto inspected the still-smoking ruins to hear that the plant would be shut for at least six months, leaving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians without power.
Israel has restarted fuel supplies and partially reopened the Karni cargo crossing for food and medical supplies into Gaza, after warnings of a humanitarian crisis, but its artillery batteries and warplanes continued to strike the otherwise sealed-off coastal strip, with helicopter gunships firing missiles into the office of Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian Prime Minister.
Señor de Soto called on Corporal Shalit’s kidnappers to release him as soon as possible, saying: "It does not serve any Palestinian interest to continue to hold this hostage."
However, he said that the UN was "very alarmed at the situation, particularly the humanitarian one". He reminded Israel of its obligations under international law not to punish civilians and to ensure that it did not react with undue harshness.
"We are fervently hoping that Israel will show restraint and observe international law and particularly the rules regarding proportionality," Señor de Soto said after visiting Mr Abbas in Gaza City.
"For instance, we find it difficult to understand that the power plant was struck and certain other measures taken as well. There have been several actions of this nature, including the arrest, the detention of ministers and legislators."
Both Señor de Soto and Mr Abbas visited Gaza’s stricken power station. They were told by engineers that it would take six to eight months to get the 140 megawatt plant working again. The strike will leave Gazans suffering lengthy power cuts and entirely dependent on electricity from Israel.
Asked today about Señor de Soto's comment that the soldier's seizure did not serve Palestinian interests, Abu Mujahid, the PRC spokesman, said curtly: "The UN is biased to the Israeli enemy."
