BEIJING, May 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli army fired a missile at the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, targeting a group of Hamas militants and severely wounding one, in a surge of violence straining an already fragile truce.     

    NEW WAVE OF VIOLENCE

    Witnesses said a small white Israeli reconnaissance plane fired a missile at a group of the Hamas armed wing, al Qassam Brigades, who were attempting to launch mortars from the area west of the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis at the nearby Gush Katif settlement bloc.

    One of the militants, identified as Ahmed Shahwan, was critically wounded and was taken to hospital, said an official hospital statement.

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed the missile attack, but gave no further details.

    "A cell of two Palestinians had a rocket launcher in place and were preparing to launch further attacks on the Gush Katif settlement bloc. The missile was fired in order to stop them from firing," said an IDF spokesman.

    It is the first time that Israel fired a missile at militants since a conditional truce was declared by major Palestinian militant groups including Hamas in Cairo in mid-March. Attacks on Israeli targets have dropped sharply since the truce was agreed upon.

    At predawn Wednesday, Israeli soldiers killed Ahmed Barhoum, a 25-year-old militant of al Qassam Brigades, near the Gaza-Egypt border.

    In retaliation, Hamas then fired at least seven mortar shells at an Israeli army outpost in the Morag settlement south of Khan Younis. There is no immediate word on any casualties.

    Hamas, bent on the destruction of Israel, vowed in a leaflet tocontinue armed resistance and shell the Jewish settlements to revenge any Israeli aggressions on the Palestinian people.

    Wednesday's new wave of violence has cast a pall over the fate of a de facto truce declared by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the Feb. 8 summit in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.     

    DECLINE IN SUPPORT FOR PULLOUT PLAN

    Israel plans to withdraw from Gaza settlements in mid-August under what Sharon has billed as a way of "disengaging" from a point of conflict. Palestinian militants see the pullback from land captured in the 1967 Middle East war as a victory.

    Far-right Israeli opponents of Sharon's plan have stepped up protests, citing violence such as Wednesday's as proof that any withdrawal from occupied land would "reward terror".

    On Wednesday, Sharon and his top ministers announced after a meeting of the ministerial committee for disengagement that Gaza Strip settlers slated to be evacuated under the coming Israeli pullout plan were given seven days on Wednesday to sign up for a relocation plan.

    Speaking at a press conference following the meeting, Justice Minister Tzippi Livni said 426 families have signed up for the plan so far and that the government is still answering inquiries on the plan.

    But a survey conducted by Tel Aviv University at the beginning of May found that 56 percent of Israeli Jews backed the plan to evacuate 21 settlements in Gaza and four of the 120 in the West Bank, down from 62 percent in February.

    The researchers attributed the decline in support to growing concern that the withdrawal would hurt Israeli security -- contrary to Sharon's message that it would boost security.

    Hamas issued a statement warning Sharon that "the security you are enjoying these days will not last long if aggression continues against our people".

    ABBAS: PALESTINE TO SEEK RESOLUTION THROUGH NEGOTIATIONS AND ROAD MAP PLAN

    Rising violence despite the three-month cease-fire aroused the attention of international community, which called for continuous dialogue and coordination between Israel and Palestine.

    To help restore confidence, the Palestinian Authority must workharder to end all violence and make tangible progress on the ground while Israel "should do more to support the Palestinian leadership in its difficult task," said Kieran Prendergast, the UNundersecretary for political affairs on Wednesday.

    On Tuesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that President George W. Bush will welcome Abbas at the White House on May 26.

    According to a report by the New York Times on Sunday, Abbas held off on the visit to Washington in order to be able to demonstrate serious progress to the Americans in his efforts to reform the Palestinian security services, end violence against Israeli civilians, clean up Palestinian finances and prepare for the Israeli transfer of the Gaza Strip to full Palestinian controlin late August.

    Sharon visited Bush in Texas last month, and complained that Abbas was making little serious effort to dismantle Palestinian terrorists and instead trying to seduce radical Islamic groups like Hamas into politics. However, Bush was impatient with Sharon's complaints and told Sharon to work with Abbas, the report added.

    During talks on Wednesday afternoon with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Abbas, who is on a visit to China, emphasized that "road map" plan, conforming with the interests of both Palestine and Israel and the interests of the Middle East region, is the best route to peace of the Middle East.

    He called for relevant parties to always abide by and carry outthe plan, while pledging that Palestine will firmly go along the path of peace talks and reconciliation with Israel. Enditem