ISRAELI tanks and troops moved into the Erez industrial zone in northern Gaza yesterday as Ehud Olmert’s Government tightened the vice on Palestinians in an attempt to secure the release of a captured soldier.

Last night Israeli aircraft targeted the Palestinian Interior Ministry building for the second time in a week. Earlier, Israeli artillery batteries fired scores of shells into nearby fields after Palestinian militants launched a handful of home-made rockets towards Israeli border towns.

One of the rockets, claimed by Hamas, hit an empty high school in the Israeli town of Ashkelon. Mr Olmert described the attack as “a major escalation in the war of terror”.

The Israeli advance came after earlier incursions in Rafah and Beit Hanoun as a 6am deadline set by Palestinian militants passed without any breakthrough in the search for Corporal Gilad Shalit.

After its ominous but vague ultimatum 24 hours earlier, the Army of Islam, one of three groups that seized Corporal Shalit, said yesterday that he would not be killed.

“Some people thought that the groups that carried out the operation will kill him, but our Islamic values tell us that prisoners should be respected and not killed,” Abu Muthanna, a spokesman, said. Israel reiterated its refusal to negotiate, but gave warning of harsh measures if the 19-year-old tank soldier was hurt. “It’s safe to say . . . the sky will fall on them if Gilad Shalit is harmed,” Roni Bar-On, a Cabinet minister, said. “If he is killed, we will react in ways the Palestinians haven’t seen.”

In Gaza Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian Prime Minister, urged the captors, including the armed wing of his own Hamas party, not to kill the soldier. At a Cabinet meeting depleted by the arrest of eight ministers by Israel, Mr Haniya said: “The Palestinian Government maintains the position it adopted from the outset on the need to preserve the life of the kidnapped Israeli soldier and treat him well”.

Israeli officials voiced confidence that Corporal Shalit was still alive. “We are sure of our information. As I speak to you, he is alive,” Avi Pazner, the Cabinet spokesman, said. His words came on the 30th anniversary of the Entebbe raid, in which Israeli forces stormed an Air France jet in Uganda to free 100 hostages held by Palestinians demanding the release of prisoners from Israeli jails.

Tony Blair, asked about Gaza, said that Britain was working to restore calm amid a “ghastly and terrible” crisis. “I’ve learnt enough about this situation over the years that going in and condemning either side is not deeply helpful,” he told the Commons Liaison Committee. “This will not be resolved, in my view, unless from the outside the international community, and particularly the US, grip the situation.”

Mr Olmert cautioned that the crisis could be a protracted one. “This is a long war. It requires lots of patience, sometimes endless restraint. We have to know when to clench our teeth and to deal a decisive blow,” he said.

TIME OF CRISIS

June 25 Corporal Gilad Shalit abducted

June 27 Prime Minister demands Shalit be freed. Airstrikes on Gaza power station and bridges

June 28 Fighter jets buzz the palace of President Assad of Syria

July 4 Tanks tighten grip over northern Gaza

Latest news on the kidnap stand-off

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