JERUSALEM – Palestinian militants in Gaza fired more than 50 rockets into Israel on Saturday, the heaviest barrage in two years, Israeli officials said, while Hamas police beat up and confiscated equipment from reporters.

A Hamas official was killed and four civilians were wounded when Israel hit back with tank fire and air strikes, said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Adham Abu Salmia.

The violence comes amid increasing calls for reconciliation between Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his bitter rivals, the Islamic militant group Hamas. Abbas is seeking U.N. recognition for a Palestinian state by the fall and is currently lobbying for votes worldwide. Hamas used force to disperse a reconciliation rally in Gaza. Some reporters were later beaten up, threatened and briefly detained.

Israeli police spokesman Tamir Avtabi said Gaza militants fired 54 mortar shells at Israeli border communities within 15 minutes. He said two Israeli civilians were lightly wounded by shrapnel and residents were advised to stay at home or in bomb shelters.

Hayim Yellin, head of the Eshkol region where the mortars exploded, said they were the same type as those intercepted on a cargo ship last week loaded with weapons Israel said were sent by Iran to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he will file a complaint at the U.N. after Saturday's unusually large barrage of rockets. In a statement, Lieberman said the Palestinians "primary goal is destroying Israel."

Hamas acknowledged it launched some of the mortars — an unusual move as the Islamic militant group does not usually take responsibility for such attacks. Hamas fears triggering another Israeli invasion similar to a three-week operation aimed at stopping daily Palestinian shelling two years ago that killed about 1,400 Palestinians.

Israeli police said the mortar barrage Saturday was the heaviest since that round of fighting.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for all violence originating in Gaza, though Hamas usually blames smaller groups for rocket fire.

Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said the shelling was in reaction to recent Israeli airstrikes that killed militants. He warned Israel "not to test Hamas' response."

Hamas ousted Fatah from Gaza in bloody street battles in 2007. Since then, Hamas controls Gaza and the Western backed secular Fatah rules the West Bank.

Repeated efforts to reconcile the two rival governments have failed. Palestinians have held rallies in Gaza and the West Bank in recent days calling for the two sides to resolve their differences.

On Saturday, Hamas used force to break up a small rally, witnesses said and later beat up reporters from major international news outlets.

An Associated Press Television News cameraman was nearby when he was cornered by Hamas police and beaten with sticks. He was briefly detained and released unharmed. Other cameramen also were beaten and some had their equipment confiscated by Hamas.

Hamas also raided the offices of the Reuters news agency, CNN and Japanese channel NHK in Gaza. A Reuters producer was arrested by Hamas and witnesses later saw him leave hospital with a bandage wrapped around his hand.

Reuters Bureau Chief Crispian Balmer said "A group of armed men entered our office in Gaza and threatened our employees and confiscated a video camera after we were spotted filming a demonstration from the building. They smashed a TV in the office, they clubbed one of our guys on the arm with a metal club and they threatened to throw another one of our employees out of the window."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri spoke out against the raids in a message sent to reporters. "We condemn the attack on Reuters agency in Gaza and we call on the Hamas interior ministry to investigate this incident, we emphasize our respect for the media," he said.

The internal Palestinian rift makes their vision of statehood harder to achieve and hinders their ability to reach a peace agreement with Israel.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed last year over disputes about Israeli construction in the West bank, areas Palestinians want as parts of their future state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to deliver a major policy speech soon on peacemaking.

Israel's channel 2 TV broadcast a rare interview Saturday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recorded last week. Abbas told the Israeli station that he was "more determined than ever to reach a solution with Israel." Abbas said Gaza and the West Bank had to reconcile. "Hamas have committed terrible crimes but they are still part of the Palestinian people," he said.

source

Stay classy, Gaza!

In all honesty I think that Israel, A)Should cease all expansions into the West Bank and work with Fatah to reach a final border agreement.  then B) Invade Gaza Strip again this time taking out Hamas's Government, after Israel is completely sure hamas's Government has been toppled, they allow Fatah forces into the streets of Gaza and promise to support the Palestinian authorities in the future if Hamas tries to take over again.

I think Israel should demand that any party who does not recognize a deal between Israel and the Fatah lead Government is unable to run in future elections. Israel ensures that extremist groups will be dealt with. Israel arms and helps train a Fatah Government force.

In the end Israel needs to take any ally it can get and Fatah could be just right for finally bringing peace to Israel. Of course Israel is going to have to make several concessions. But Hamas needs to be dealt with and an occupation won't do any good. The Palestinians need to get rid of Hamas themselves!

So it's already tuesday then?

People are often harsh about the things Israel does, and for some of the things they do, people should be harsh.

However, consdiering the fact that rockets being fired into Israel is such a common occurence it takes 50 of them to be news...

It's pretty obvious why they're harsh.

Israel and Palestine is going to be an endless cycle until Palestine wakes up and takes the best deal they can get at the current, and try to get future concessions in the future.

I disagree.  The problem won't be solved by taking away peoples rgiht to vote.  Honestly, I think the problem is that Hamas isn't being recognized as the leaders of Gaza despite the fact that they won the eletions in Gaza.  Fair and square as far as anyone can tell.

By not recognizing them, Gaza gets to control gaza AND they get to fire rockets.

What do you think would happen if the Fatah started attacking Israel with rockets?

I think what needs to be done is Gaza has to be accepted as run by Hamas, and seperated from the West Bank.

even if hamas renounced violence today they should in no way be recognized as a legitimate governmental force.  you do recall they murdered all their opponents and took absolute control of gaza?  getting more votes in an election doesnt grant authority to murder those who got slightly less votes. 

The problem is Fatah's support is going to bottom out quick in the West Bank. Fatah just gives and gives at the negotiating table and the Settlers just give them the finger, and the Settlers' Puppet in the PM chair follows suit. This could very well send the message that a peaceful solution is impossible and lead to a quick collapse of support

Hamas isn't helping matters with these random acts of violence, though

its unlikely they could actually reach an agreement with them.  israel should unilaterally set a fair border, push internationally to get the border recognized(if its a fair border they should be able to get some support for it), and then start withdrawing back to their own side.  

That would be great, however I doubt the international community and Israel could agree on how much land Israel is given. The international community has already told israel to freeze settlements, even the US did. But Israel showed they didn't care what the international community said.

In order for them to unilaterly draw a border they would have to make major concessions for the international community to view the border as legit. Even so they would have a very hard time convincing the UN that the new border was legit especially if they did not involve the Palestinians. The arab world would certainly not see the border as legit thats for sure.

I think Israel needs to work with anyone they can, in this case Fatah. They need to start making concessions and giving Palestinians some stuff that they might not want to part with. You can't always get everything your way in the real world.

the building is in towns and neighbourhoods that israel wouldnt give up anyways.  so there is no point for them to stop anyways.  its pointless to even discuss it since there was a freeze and the palestinians found other reasons to not come to the table.   they dont want to discuss it and therefore israel needs to act on its own.   its easier for them(politically) to not do it, of course.  they can continue to say how irrelevant it is because they have to partner to deal with and people accept it because its the truth. 

the palestinians and the rest of the arabs wont be happy regardless because they dont want the jews there anyways.  so israel needs to take a tough stance on the illegal settlements(the ones where settlers just wander off into the west bank and start building on their own)  and deal with the palestinians as they would an unruly child.  set the terms and follow through.