Hamas Offers Conditional Release

Israeli warplanes struck the Palestinian Interior Ministry early Friday, setting it ablaze as Arab leaders tried to forge a deal that would halt the Israeli offensive and free a 19-year-old soldier held by gunmen allied with the ruling Islamic Hamas.

The bombing was one of more than a dozen across the Gaza Strip after midnight, though Israel called off a planned ground invasion of northern Gaza on Thursday in order to give diplomacy another chance.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said militants agreed to a conditional release of the kidnapped soldier but that Israel had yet to accept their terms, which he did not specify. Israel said it was not familiar with any such offer.

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Israel also vowed to hunt down the killers of a kidnapped 18-year-old, whose body was found Thursday in the West Bank with a gunshot wound to the head. Hamas-linked militants said they killed him.

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Anger flared across the Middle East over Israel’s assault, and many Arabs criticized their governments for not aiding the Palestinians. The Egyptian government’s top rival, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, urged Egyptians to gather at pro-Palestinian demonstrations Friday, the Muslim Sabbath.

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The group also said it killed Eliahu Asheri, the 18-year-old West Bank settler whose body was discovered Thursday. The militants had said they would kill Asheri if the raid on Gaza did not stop, but an Israeli military official said he was shot in the head shortly after he was abducted Sunday.

Palestinians kidnapped an 18-year-old. Palestinians killed him. Palestinians then announced they would kill him if the raid on Gaza did not stop, but he was already dead.

Palestinians kidnapped a 19-year-old soldier. What makes these animals think anyone would make a “deal” with them? He could be dead already. It’s not like the Palestinians have a reputation for honesty, or integrity.

Palestinians are now offering his release with “conditions”. Who the hell deals with terrorists?

It would be absolutely insane for Israel to make a deal with these bastards, or any of their friends across the Mid-East, until their own conditions are “serious”, “critical”, or even “fatal”.