JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel's powerful security cabinet warned on Wednesday it would hold Hamas responsible for any attacks from its Gaza stronghold and kept in place a crippling blockade of the Palestinian territory.
In the face of US pressure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the cabinet to consider easing the stifling blockade that Israel slapped on Gaza after Hamas, a group pledged to the Jewish state's destruction, seized control of the territory two years ago.
"The cabinet decided that Israel considers Hamas responsible for any attacks against Israel from Gaza's territory," the premier's office said afterwards.
"The cabinet instructed the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to respond to any attack against Israel from Gaza," it said.
On Monday, four Palestinian militants were killed in a gunbattle with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border. The previously unknown "Soldiers of Allah" claimed responsibility for the attack.
As to the blockade, the statement said only that "the cabinet is examining further ways to ease the life of the Palestinian population in Gaza while keeping Israel's security interests."
Under the blockade, only essential humanitarian goods are allowed into the impoverished territory.
Ministers also discussed Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants, including from Hamas, in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006 and who remains in captivity.
"The cabinet instructed the bodies dealing with the issue of Gilad Shalit to make every possible effort to bring about his release," it said.
Israel and Hamas have conducted months of indirect talks through Egypt on a prisoner exchange that would see Shalit freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel.
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