Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Hussam Zahar acting tough.

Hussam Zahar at the gates of hell…not so tough anymore.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli tanks and helicopters raided Gaza in pursuit of rocket squads Tuesday, killing the son of the territory’s most powerful leader and 16 other Palestinians in the bloodiest day of fighting since Islamic Hamas militants overran the coastal area in June.

Palestinian sniper fire across the border killed a 19-year-old volunteer from Ecuador at an Israeli communal farm.

That death and the killing of Hussam Zahar, 24, the militant son of hardline Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, threatened to fuel the violence at a time when Israel and moderate Palestinians in the West Bank are trying to move peacemaking into high gear.

At the morgue at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Mahmoud Zahar held his lifeless son’s bloodied head in his hands and closed his eyes, then kissed him three times on the forehead and recited verses from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

Zahar’s eldest son was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against the Hamas leader in 2003. Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio that Hussam Zahar, who is survived by a brother and four sisters, wasn’t targeted by Israeli forces.

Mahmoud Zahar is widely viewed as the mastermind of Hamas’ violent takeover of Gaza, in which the Islamic group’s vastly outnumbered fighters routed rival Fatah forces.

Hamas, he vowed, will respond to Tuesday’s raid “in the appropriate way. We will defend ourselves by all means.”

Hamas immediately stepped up its involvement in the daily barrage of rocket and mortar fire on southern Israel. While allowing other militant factions to attack southern Israeli communities with impunity, the Islamic militant group hasn’t taken the lead on the assaults in recent months.

But after the younger Zahar was killed, Hamas claimed to have fired 17 mortars at two small border crossings with Israel.

Israel said 14 mortars were fired since midnight and a rocket hit the town of Ashkelon, causing no injuries or damage. Three militant factions, including a Hamas-allied group, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, Hamas said on its Web site.

Zahar accused the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, of complicity in his son’s death for negotiating with Israel.

“This is the hope of Abu Mazen and his colleagues, the collaborators with Israel and the spies of America,” Zahar said, using Abbas’ nickname.

The clashes Tuesday began when Israeli troops moved several hundred yards (meters) into the territory to strike an abandoned house east of Gaza City that militants used for rocket-launching operations, Hamas said.

When Palestinian militants discovered the force, an exchange of fire erupted, the militants said. In the ensuing clashes, Israeli tanks fired shells and aircraft struck twice in the area, Hamas said.

“Israel is acting to protect its civilian population from these daily rocket barrages,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.

In all, 14 Palestinian fighters and three civilians, including a 65-year-old man, were killed by the time the operation wound up in early afternoon, militants and doctors said. Forty-eight people were wounded, among them an 8-year-old boy who was seriously hurt, medical officials said.

Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry said many of the dead and wounded lost limbs. Because of the high number of casualties, Hassanain questioned whether Israeli troops were using tank-fired flechette shells, an anti-personnel weapon that throws out thousands of metal darts.

The military had no immediate comment on whether such munitions were used.

Shifa Hospital put out a radio call for blood donations because of the large number of wounded.

The Hamas government called a three-day mourning period, and ordered flags on all government buildings to be lowered to half staff. Hamas called for a general strike in Gaza and the West Bank on Wednesday to protest the heavy number of deaths.

In the course of the fighting, a Palestinian sniper fired from the border area into Israel, killing an Ecuadorean volunteer who was working in a potato field at the Ein Hashlosha communal farm, or kibbutz, Israeli officials said.

Hamas’ military wing claimed responsiblity.

“The shooting of the Ecuadoran youth demonstrates the necessity of the defensive measures the military is carrying out with pinpoint operations,” Israeli military spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said.

Dozens of dunams (acres) of farmlands planted with olive trees, cucumbers, tomatoes and squash were destroyed during the operation. The used car market in Gaza was struck by three tanks shells that damaged two buildings.

Israel has been cracking down on Gaza militants who bombard southern Israel with rockets and mortars and attack troops along the border, even as it seeks peace with Abbas’ West Bank-based government.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggested Israel would not launch a broad operation in Gaza, despite Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s repeated assertions that a large-scale strike was inevitable.

Abbas, who has no influence in Gaza, condemned the Israeli raid.

“It is impossible to bring peace under these circumstances,” he said.

(Fox)