In his first public address since Israel began its offensive into the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Friday said his government would not cave into Israeli demands but said he was working hard to end a five-day-old crisis with Israel.Though Haniyeh did not directly address Israel's demand that Palestinian militants hand over an abducted Israeli soldier, he implied that the government would not trade him for eight Cabinet ministers and 56 other Hamas officials arrested on Thursday. "When they kidnapped the ministers they meant to hijack the government's position, but we say no positions will be hijacked, no governments will fall," he said.
A few hours before Haniyeh spoke, Israeli jet fighters destroyed the offices of his interior minister in Gaza, intensifying an air invasion while delaying a broad ground offensive in hopes that pressure on the Hamas government will secure the release of the kidnapped soldier .
Haniyeh also said he is working hard to end the crisis.
| I'll bet he is, now that Israel has threatened to kill him if the soldier isn't returned unharmed. |