Middle East: Speaking within several hours of each other yesterday, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal both broadcast uncompromising messages on the crisis over the capture of an Israeli soldier, holding out little hope for a quick resolution to the stand-off, which has seen Israeli forces push deep into the coastal strip.
On the ground, meanwhile, casualties continued to mount in Gaza, with seven people killed yesterday in Israeli strikes. Palestinians reported that three civilians, all teenagers, were killed by a missile in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. The four others - all militants - were killed in three Israeli air strikes.
Speaking at a news conference in Damascus where he is based, Mr Mashaal said the soldier would not be freed if Israel failed to release Palestinian prisoners in its jails. He said the Palestinians were "united on the insistence to swap the captured soldier with prisoners in the jails of the Zionist enemy.
"The solution is simple: swap. But Israel rejects this," he said. "The mediators in Europe know this, but they are incapable." But Mr Olmert, who has steadfastly refused to negotiate for the release of the abducted soldier, Corp Gilad Shalit (19), told reporters he would "not release prisoners for the trade of Corporal Gilad Shalit to Hamas". While a senior cabinet minister had intimated last week that Israel may be ready to release prisoners, Mr Olmert snuffed out any notion of a swap yesterday, insisting that "trading prisoners with a terrorist, bloody organisation such as Hamas is a major mistake that will cause a lot of damage" to Israel in the future.
"Khaled Mashaal is a terrorist with blood on his hands," the Israeli leader said. "He's not a legitimate partner for anything. He's not a partner and he won't be a partner. I will not negotiate with Hamas." Mr Mashaal's retaliated: "They will not obtain any compromise from me."
Israel has accused the Hamas leader of giving the order for the kidnapping of the soldier and has made veiled threats to target him like it did in 1997, when Israeli agents tried to assassinate Mr Mashaal by poisoning him in Jordan. But the attempt failed when the agents were caught after injecting the poison into Mr Mashaal's ear, and King Hussein forced Israel to fly in an antidote.
"Death comes with God's will," said Mr Mashaal, responding to the threats. "I have had enough from life . . . and I long to meet God."
Replying to speculation that he is trying to engineer the downfall of the Hamas government, Mr Olmert told reporters Israel had "no particular desire to topple the Hamas government as a policy. We have a desire to stop the terrorists from inflicting terror on the Israeli people."
The Israeli leader also said the current violence would not dissuade him from forging ahead with his plan for a unilateral withdrawal in the West Bank, event though opinion polls have shown increasing opposition to his plan among Israelis.