Gaza - one of the bloodiest days of fighting since June

From Ynet News, by Associated Press, Tuesday 14/1/08:

Gaza... total of 17 Palestinians killed during IDF activity Tuesday. 20-year-old Ecuadorian kibbutz volunteer killed by Palestinian sniper fire

Israeli tanks, bulldozers and helicopters raided the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing the militant son of the territory's most powerful Hamas leader and 16 other Palestinians in one of the bloodiest days of fighting since the Islamic group took over the area in June.

Palestinian sniper fire across the border killed 20-year-old Carlos Andres Chavez, a volunteer from Quito, Ecuador, at the Ein Hashlosha kibbutz.

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

...Another al-Zahar son was killed in a botched Israeli assassination attempt against the elder al-Zahar in his home three years ago...

...Sniper attack on kibbutz volunteer
In the course of the fighting, a Palestinian sniper fired from the border area into Israel, killing 20-year-old Carlos Andres Chavez, a volunteer from Ecuador who was working in a potato field at the Ein Hashlosha kibbutz, Israeli officials said....

...Broad Gaza offensive?
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 controlled only the West Bank since Hamas overran Gaza, condemned the Israeli raid....

...Threat to government coalition
While violence was swelling in Gaza, Olmert was struggling Tuesday to keep his coalition intact and broad enough to comfortably work toward reaching a peace deal with the moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank.

...Avigdor Lieberman is threatening to pull his 11-member Yisrael Beiteinu faction out of Olmert's government now that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks moved on Monday to the key issues in the conflict - final borders, disputed Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Lieberman and the party will decide how to act after he meets with Olmert on Tuesday, Lieberman spokeswoman Irena Etinger said.