Hamas vows revenge as Israel shoots protesters

Two Palestinians were killed when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a crowd of protesters in the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday, bringing the number of Palestinians killed in one week to 33.

The Israeli army said its soldiers opened fire because Palestinians were throwing firebombs and rocks, though Palestinians claimed they only threw stones. The army said one man was shot dead because troops saw him holding something suspicious.

Yesterday's violence arose amid an Israeli army offensive against the Islamist militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where most of this week's deaths have taken place – a bloody backdrop to the first talks between the Israeli government and Palestinian officials in months.

A few metres from buildings left in ruins by the Israeli army, where, Palestinians said, three young civilians were killed, Abd al-Aziz Rantisi, a leader of Hamas's political wing, rejected calls for a ceasefire. "It's impossible to make what they wrongly call a ceasefire – this ceasefire means only surrender, and we prefer to die than surrender."

Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat's deputy in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, and a leading candidate to become prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, said yesterday the PA leadership would back a proposed one-year ceasefire.

But a ceasefire that does not include Hamas, now the most powerful militant group, will not get far. There is little love lost between it and the PA.

Dr Rantisi described the fresh talks between Israel and the PA as "negotiations between Sharon and a few isolated Palestinian figures". He said: "All of Gaza is saying we are with resistance, not negotiation."

Tens of thousands turned up at the funerals that came day after day last week for Hamas militants – eight senior militants died in three days, six of them in a mysterious explosion for which Hamas blamed the Israeli army.

At the funerals there was little sign of support for a ceasefire as the organisers chanted: "Sharon prepare the coffins. Revenge is coming soon, in Tel Aviv and Jaffa."

The Israeli authorities may say in their defence that, with the PA calling for a ceasefire, Hamas represents the biggest Palestinian obstacle to the peace process. But there have been repeated accusations that the Israeli government is deliberately provoking Hamas, with incursions and killings of its leading militants in Gaza, to stall the peace process.

"If Sharon and his government invade Gaza, they are going to pay a heavy price," warned Dr Rantisi, pointing to the deaths of four soldiers as Hamas set fire to a tank in the Gaza Strip last Saturday – an incident which preceded the Israeli defence minister vowing to attack Hamas. According to Israeli press reports, the army is not planning to invade Gaza but intends to stick to assassinations and incursions.

Hamas and PA leaders competed to tour the ruins after the Israeli army enteredGaza City on Wednesday. There is now increasing speculation that Hamas is trying to establish itself as a rival PA leader. But Dr Rantisi has denied that, and yesterday said: "Now is the time for resistance, not authority."