Israel killed the military chief of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in a Gaza City air strike on Tuesday that drew vows of revenge and could complicate efforts to end a huge Israeli offensive. Another helicopter missile hours later killed two militants of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat?s Fatah movement, and wounded four, two critically, in the nearby refugee camp of Jabalya.

The killing of Islamic Jihad commander Bashir ad-Dabbash was part of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon?s campaign to smash Palestinian armed groups before a planned pullout from occupied Gaza next year. Militants seek to claim any pullout as victory. Dabbash?s death also fanned tension just as Israeli and Palestinian officials were trying to work out a deal on ending a six-day-old Israeli offensive into the densely populated Gaza Strip to quell rocket fire into Israel by militants. Seventy-two Palestinians have been killed ? 45 militants and the rest civilians, according to local medics ? and scores wounded, while three Israelis have died.

He died alongside another militant one year and one day after the last big suicide bombing by the faction, when a Palestinian woman killed 23 Israelis at a Haifa restaurant. In a statement, the Israeli army said it had targeted a vehicle Dabbash was riding in and added that he was responsible for dozens of attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers. Dabbash?s body was borne to the morgue from the wreckage of his car by militants firing in the air and chanting for revenge.

?Islamic Jihad will not be broken by this martyrdom,? said Khaled al-Batsh, a senior political leader in Gaza. ?Islamic Jihad?s armed wing will return this strike with tougher strikes against the Zionist entity.?

Dabbash headed Jihad?s military wing, known as the al-Quds Brigade. Political leader Ramadan Shallah is abroad ? his predecessor, Fathi Shqaqi was shot dead in Malta in 1995. Israel does not comment on charges it killed him. Dabbash?s assassination was Israel?s most high-profile since it killed the leader of the kindred Hamas faction in April.

In the evening air strike that killed the two al-Aqsa men, a military statement said helicopters targeted the militants as they tried to plant a bomb to ambush troops. Another gunman was killed in a missile strike in Jabalya earlier in the day. Meanwhile, an Israeli army officer said Israel had arrested 13 Palestinian employees of the UN refugee agency in Gaza since 2000 for ?suspected links to terrorism? but that some may no longer be held.

UN officials had no information on the arrests. Against a backdrop of US calls on Israel for restraint, commanders from both sides have begun indirect contacts through Egypt on ending the Israeli thrust into north Gaza.

Israel launched the offensive after a Hamas rocket strike killed two toddlers in an Israeli border town a week ago. Israel is now demanding three straight ?rocket-free? days as proof of the Palestinian Authority?s commitment to prevent such attacks, an Israeli security source said. The last rocket strike on Monday wounded one man on a college campus.

Palestinian militants had initially demanded an end to assassinations, though Israel refused, insiders said. A Hamas spokesman called the killing of Dabbash «a blow to those who seek to mediate» and said: ?I do not believe the time is right to talk about stopping any of the resistance.?

US Secretary of State Colin Powell has called on Israel to quickly end what has mushroomed into its bloodiest army operation since the start of the Palestinian revolt. Palestinians? Arab allies had pressed for a UN Security Council resolution demanding Israel stop its offensive, but the United States on Tuesday vetoed a draft resolution.

Nidal AL-MUGHRABI

BOMB THREAT

Israeli jets buzzed Swiss jet by mistake

■ Israeli fighter jets mistakenly buzzed a Swiss aircraft close to Cyprus before intercepting a German airliner and forcing it to land on the island because of a bomb threat, a senior official said yesterday. Cyprus is furious that Israeli fighters scrambled on Tuesday to intercept the aircraft, a potential security risk, without clearance within Cyprus-administered airspace and ?forced? it to land at a Cypriot airport. The Lufthansa jet, flying from Frankfurt to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, was searched for about five hours in Cyprus on Tuesday afternoon before given the all-clear and departing for its destination that evening. Reflecting government unease, the Phileleftheros daily yesterday called the incident an ?act of piracy?. ?Israel thinks Cyprus is the bin they can dump their problems in,? an unnamed Cypriot official was quoted as telling the Politis newspaper. The foreign ministry was expected to seek explanations from Israel yesterday and report the incident to international air traffic control bodies, officials said.