GAZA CITY (AFP) - A military leader of the radical Palestinian group Hamas was killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sought to maximize his apparent majority in a crucial upcoming vote on his plan to pull out of the territory.
Adnan el-Ghoul, 47, one of the leaders of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in the strike by an Israeli helicopter gunship on a car in northern Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said.
Ghoul and his aide, Imad Abbas, 37, died when the helicopter fired two rockets, Palestinian medical sources said.
Two other people were wounded, one of them seriously.
Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat condemned the air strike, telling AFP it "proves that Israel prefers the way of arms to that of negotiations."
Similar strikes cost the lives earlier this year of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and of his successor, Abdulaziz al-Rantissi.
Ghoul had been on Israel's most-wanted list for the past decade, accused of numerous attacks on Israeli targets that had left dozens dead and hundreds hurt.
He had been a close collaborator of Yehya Ayash, known as "The Engineer, who was killed in Gaza in 1996 when his portable telephone exploded in a killing attributed to Israel's internal security service, Shin Beth.
Ghoul and Abbas were also suspected of being behind the firing of homemade rockets on Israeli territory, which led to a massive 17-day Israeli campaign earlier this month to stamp out the attacks that left 130 Palestinians, most of them militants, dead.
Another of the so-called Qassam rockets was fired from northern Gaza late Thursday, the army said, but struck in an open field near the southern Israeli city of Sderot and caused no damage or casualties.
It was the first rocket to hit Israel since the army wrapped up Operation Days of Penitence on October 15, an army spokesman said.
"They have tried to fire lots of them but most have just landed inside Palestinian territory. This was the first to land in Israel since the operation ended," he said.
Earlier in the day, two Palestinian militants were killed in the Gaza Strip, as was an Israeli soldier, identified only as a non-commissioned officer.
The latest deaths bring to 4,509 the number of people killed since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, in September 2000. They include 3,479 Palestinians and 956 Israelis.
On the political front, the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily and army radio said Sharon should secure at least 66 votes in the 120-member Knesset when it gives its verdict on his disengagement plan Tuesday after a two-day debate.
Yediot predicted that 18 MPs from Sharon's own Likud party will vote against the government.
But as well as the support of the other 22 Likud members, all 21 deputies from the main opposition Labour party, the 14-strong Shinui faction, the six MPs from the left-wing Yahad party and three independents will vote with the government, the paper added.
That figure could rise further if the 11 MPs of the main ultra-Orthodox Shas party vote also votes with the government.
Under the plan, all 8,000 Jewish residents of Gaza will be uprooted from their homes next year along with several hundred residents of four small Jewish enclaves in the northern West Bank.
In turn, Sharon is looking to strengthen Israeli control over larger West Bank settlements where the vast majority of settlers live.
The premier is determined to maximise his majority, aware that a resounding victory is the best way to silence critics, who have been demanding a referendum on the topic.
Sharon himself was due to hold talks Thursday with the leader of Shas parliamentary faction, Eli Yishai, in an attempt to at least persuade his faction to abstain in the vote.
Yishai told public radio he was certain that Yossef would "not instruct us to vote for the plan", leaving open the possibility that MPs will abstain.
Sharon has been without a parliamentary majority since June after some of his former allies either quit or were sacked from government over their opposition to the pullout from Gaza.
Regardless of the outcome next week, Sharon is aware that his government's minority status is untenable in the long-run and that he will have to find new coalition partners.
The depth of divisions within Likud have raised the prospect of a break-up of Israel's main right-wing party, an idea reinforced Thursday by comments from Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, who told Yediot the rifts were now beyond repair.
"Those who say there will not be a split do not know what they are talking about," said Rivlin, an opponent of the pullout plan.
A spokesman for the settlers said residents of the Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza would hold a series of protest rallies in Jerusalem Tuesday.
A report published Thursday by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said Operation Days of Penitence had also left 675 Palestinians homeless and caused more than three million dollars worth of damage.
A total of 91 buildings, which were home to 143 families, were destroyed and five UNRWA-run school compounds were damaged in the operation as well as a private kindergarten and three mosques, the agency said.
10/21/2004 - 21:03 GMT - AFP