IBRAHIM BARZAK

Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli troops moved into southern Gaza under cover of darkness early Saturday, rounding up two Hamas militants in the first arrest raid in the coastal strip since Israel withdrew last year.

The Israeli Army said the militants were planning an imminent large attack against the Jewish state. No shots were fired, and the small Israeli force left immediately after the operation, the army said.

The raid came as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in Gaza for talks on a power-sharing agreement with the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh were scheduled to meet late Saturday, and participants said the two were near a deal.

"I think we are very, very close to achieving a big compromise and a final agreement, but I think we need a little time and a little patience," said Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led government.

The two sides have been locked in a power struggle since Hamas defeated Abbas' Fatah party in January legislative elections. Abbas, a moderate, was elected separately last year.

Abbas has been pressing Hamas to accept a proposal drafted by senior prisoners held by Israel that calls for the implicit recognition of the Jewish state. If Hamas doesn't accept the document, Abbas has said he will move ahead with a July 26 referendum on the proposal. Opinion polls have indicated Palestinian voters would back Abbas.

Israel and Western donors, which provide most of the funds for the Palestinian budget, have boycotted the Hamas government until the group renounces violence and recognizes Israel.

Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, has so far refused to endorse the deal with Abbas despite the crippling embargo.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militants in Gaza have been firing homemade rockets into southern Israel, drawing tough Israeli reprisals.

The rocket fire has caused few casualties but severely disrupted life in Israeli border towns. Israeli airstrikes aimed at rocket-launching militants have caused 13 civilian deaths in recent weeks.

Abbas on Friday urged U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to press Israel to stop escalating tensions, Abbas' office said.

Abbas called for U.S. intervention to stop Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.

Rice committed to press Israel to work to instill calm in the region and urged Abbas to do so as well, Abu Rdeneh said.

Abbas believes a unified political front would end weeks of bloody fighting between Fatah and Hamas supporters, ease international pressure on Hamas and allow him to restart peace talks with Israel.

Hamad, the militant group's spokesman, said it has agreed to compromise on "very important issues."

Contentious points include tacitly accepting Israel by endorsing a Palestinian state alongside it, ending Palestinian attacks inside Israel and forming a national unity government.

For more than a week, participants have said they were close to agreement, without reaching a deal.

Officials said the remaining area of disagreement focused on a proposal in the prisoners' document calling for the establishment of a coalition government. Hamas currently dominates the Palestinian legislature and Cabinet.

Israeli ground forces have entered Gaza three times since Israel completed its unilateral withdrawal from the area last September. Saturday marked the first time troops have arrested militants.

Capt. Tal Levram, a spokesman for Israel's southern command, called Saturday's raid a "surgical operation," saying no tanks or gunfire were needed. He described the raid as an isolated incident and said it did not signal a new tactic in Israel's war against the militants.

"They were involved in something that was supposed to happen very soon," he said, declining to elaborate.

In the other incursions, troops cleared explosives near the border, and briefly entered Gaza to kill three militants who were launching rockets.

Hamas said Israeli troops entered the southern Gaza Strip, east of the town of Rafah, to storm a house, make the arrests, and then withdraw. They stayed for about an hour, the group said.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the two militants were not members of the group. But local Hamas activists said the pair were sons of a prominent local Hamas leader and known to be members. | save this article / add to your favorites list