GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli tanks and troops massed near the Gaza Strip on Friday for an anticipated military strike in retaliation for a Hamas suicide bombing, as Palestinian police arrested seven members of the Islamic militant group.
In densely populated Gaza, home to more than 1 million Palestinians, residents fearing an Israeli incursion crowded bakeries and stocked up on food. At the Jabalya refugee camp, a militant stronghold that is home to 100,000 Palestinians, residents blocked entrances with mounds of rubble and sand. Gunmen wandered the alleyways.
Palestinians in Gaza gave a raucous welcome to 26 Palestinian militiamen released several hours earlier from Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, scene of a 39-day standoff with Israeli troops. Thirteen other men in the church were flown to Cyprus on their way to exile in other European countries.
Some of the 26 gunmen, including policemen and members of a militia linked to Arafat, were given fresh weapons which they fired off while parading through the streets of Gaza in celebration.
Abdel Hakim Mukhtar, a 22-year-old supporter of Arafat's Fatah party, waved a submachine gun as he vowed to put up a fight against Israel.
"They can easily enter Gaza, but they will not leave this land alive, and I am sure that none of their soldiers are brave enough to show up in our streets because we have no other alternative — to die or to surrender, and we will not surrender," Mukhtar said.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, speaking at his West Bank headquarters, accused Israel of committing crimes against the Palestinians by raiding Palestinian territories. "Our people are steadfast and will continue with all their power to defend our holy cities, Christian and Muslim places," he said when asked about an anticipated Gaza incursion.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Friday that "there is no plan to conquer Gaza." The aim of any military operation would be "to reach points where we have had centers of terror in a very careful and measured way," Peres said after arriving in Rome for talks with Vatican and Italian officials.
In the southern Israeli town of Beersheba, a bomb exploded near a bank, lightly injuring six people. Police detained two suspects, including one apprehended by a bystander who said he witnessed two men placing a bag near the bank.
It was not clear if a Palestinian militant group was behind the blast. Hamas claimed responsibility for a suicide attack earlier this week at an Israeli pool hall that left 15 Israelis dead.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed retaliation and action appeared imminent with troops and tanks heading toward Israel's border with Gaza — where Hamas is based.
Israel has called up reserve soldiers in the past two days, but the call-up appeared smaller than the one that preceded Operation Defensive Shield, Israel's large-scale military incursion into the West Bank. That offensive began March 29, following a series of suicide bombings that left scores of Israelis dead.
Mohammed Dahlan, Arafat's security chief in Gaza, said the Palestinians were expecting an attack. "Everyone is prepared and our people know how to confront the occupation," said Dahlan.
Fatma Jaber, a 49-year-old grandmother in Gaza, filled a bag with fruits and vegetables at the Gaza City market early Friday. "Whatever we are going to face, it's not going to change the occupation we've endured for more than 35 years, whether Israeli troops are in our land or outside it," she said.
Hamas officials said Arafat's forces arrested another seven members of the group Friday, bringing the two-day total to 23. None of those in custody was a senior Hamas members. The arrests won praise from President Bush but he said Arafat must keep the militants in prison.
Israel said it arrested a top Hamas leader in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday.
Israeli troops left Ramallah and Arafat's compound there last week and were preparing to pull out of Bethlehem on Friday, after the standoff at the Church of Nativity ended with the deportation of 13 suspected militants and the transfer of 26 others to Gaza.
The 13 men flew to Cyprus aboard a British military plane and were to continue on from there to host countries including Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and possibly Canada.
At daybreak Friday, the men walked through the low-slung Gate of Humility, the ancient basilica's main door, into the sun of Manger Square. One-by one, they walked through metal detectors. Two were carried out on stretchers, and one briefly dropped to the ground, kneeling in a Muslim prayer pose. They all boarded Israeli buses, first for an army base, and then to either Gaza or the Israeli airport.
Israel's siege at the church built over the traditional birthplace of Jesus had been one of the focal points of its West Bank offensive, and ending it became a cliffhanger of on-again, off-again negotiations.
Israel's troop pullout from Bethlehem was delayed when a group of 10 foreign activists who last week sneaked into the church in solidarity with the Palestinians refused to leave. Israeli police eventually entered the compound and brought the 10 out by force. American security personnel collected weapons left behind by the Palestinian gunmen.
Peres said some Israeli troops began leaving Bethlehem on Thursday and the completion of a withdrawal there was "a matter of hours or days."