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Gaza: Israel bombed the offices of Hamas lawmakers, destroyed a bridge and fired a tank shell that killed one Palestinian on Friday as part of a Gaza Strip offensive aimed at forcing militants to release a captured soldier. Israeli forces withdrew overnight from central Gaza after two days of fighting, but an army spokeswoman said: "We don't rule out the possibility of going back in." Since the Gaza offensive was launched on June 28, Israel has killed more than 80 Palestinians, a majority of them fighters. Across the coastal strip, thousands of Hamas supporters rallied after Friday prayers in support of Hezbollah fighters who seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight on the Lebanese border. The attacks prompted Israel to launch attacks against Hezbollah and Lebanese targets that have killed 63 people.
Hamas supporters in Gaza waved Lebanese and Hezbollah flags and chanted: "Greetings from Hamas to Nasrallah," a reference to Hezbollah's charismatic leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Palestinian Prime Minister Esmail Haniya of Hamas urged all Arabs and Muslims to show solidarity with Lebanon against what he called a "mad war" by Israel. The Gaza Strip is ringed by Israeli tanks and troops. A contingent remains in the southern tip of Gaza, which troops entered on June 28 to try to force fighters to free Corporal Gilad Shalit and to halt their cross-border rocket fire. Israel has rejected fighters' demands that Palestinian prisoners be released in exchange for Shalit. Hamas has accused Israel of mounting the military offensive to topple its four-month-old government. The United States and other Western powers have refused to provide direct aid to the government until Hamas recognises Israel and renounces violence. But the United States announced on Friday that it would provide an additional $50.85 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, after meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called for both sides to "exercise restraint". Welch said the prisoner issue 'must also be addressed between the Israelis and President Abbas, free from any interference by any outside party.' Abbas has said he was promised that Israel would release prisoners after he meets with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. But Palestinian officials made clear any prisoner release would not be in response to Hamas's demands for a prisoner swap. Stepping up attacks on the Hamas-led government, an Israeli helicopter fired a missile overnight into the north Gaza offices of several Hamas lawmakers, including Mushir Al Masri. Al Masri's office was completely destroyed in the blast. A poster of senior Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Al Rantissi, killed in a 2004 Israeli air strike, was blown off its wooden frame. Al Masri said 'all options are open' to respond to the attack. He told a pro-Hezbollah rally: "We will never recognise Israel, even if we all get crushed and wiped off the face of the earth."
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