Protests Force Israel to Halt Airstrikes

Palestinians are seen in the street, next to the house of Mohammedweil Baroud, the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees in Beit Layiha, northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006. Hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield around the building to prevent a planned Israeli airstrike, a new tactic that forced the army to call off the attack and re-evaluate its aerial campaign in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) (Hatem Moussa - AP)

The army said it called off the nighttime airstrikes because of the large crowds, but vowed to continue to fight the "terrorist infrastructure." It condemned "the cynical exploitation by the terrorists of uninvolved people as human shields."

Still, Israeli military officials acknowledged they had no solution for the standoff. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk to the media.

In Gaza City, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying several senior members of the Hamas rocket-launching unit, the army said. Hospital officials said nine people were wounded including two Hamas militants inside the vehicle and a 13-year-old girl hurt by shrapnel.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, criticized a U.N. resolution that calls on Israel to pull its troops from the Gaza Strip and requests a fact-finding mission into the death of 19 members of an extended family killed in a recent Israeli artillery attack.

The resolution, approved Friday by the U.N. General Assembly, received support from all members of the European Union after last minute changes softened the tone. Israel, Australia, and the United States voted against it.

"We have no doubt that the state of Israel is not the one that has to provide answers about hitting civilians," Olmert said at the weekly meeting of his Cabinet.

Instead, he criticized militants who have "the goal of hitting civilians" and members of the international community "who on their moral high-horse and eye-rolling ways view it as correct to initiate a U.N. resolution condemning us."

Hamas militants in Gaza fired two rockets at the Israeli town of Sderot on Sunday, wounding one person. Last week, a Sderot woman was killed in a rocket attack.

Hamas and the more moderate Fatah have been at loggerheads since the Islamic Hamas group ousted the long-ruling Fatah from power in January parliamentary elections.

But in recent weeks, the sides have been trying to put aside their differences and form a unity government in the hopes of ending international sanctions imposed on the current Hamas-led government.

Israel and Western donor nations have demanded that Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel's right to exist or accept past peace deals. Hamas rejects the conditions, and the emerging coalition government is expected to take a vague position toward Israel.

Haniyeh acknowledged that despite progress in the talks, there were no guarantees the new government would persuade the international community to lift sanctions.

"We want to feel more secure, to be more comfortable that they are going to be committed to these guarantees and lift the siege," Haniyeh told reporters after visiting the Baroud home.