Senior Hamas leader and Prime Minister-designate of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Ismail Haneya on Saturday accused Israel of obstructing the forming of a new Palestinian cabinet.

Haneya told reporters in Gaza that the recent Israeli military offensives in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were "aimed at undermining the efforts to form a national coalition government."

"This escalation is evidence that Israel is not intending to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories," said Haneya.

"In spite of the Israeli aggression, Hamas is determined to continue with its contacts with other factions and political groups until all agree on forming a wide national unity government, " he asserted.

Haneya, 42, was officially appointed on Tuesday by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as prime minister to form a new cabinet within five weeks after Hamas won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections last month.

Israeli army carried out a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday, killing at least five Palestinians.

In retaliation, militants of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) fired several rockets at the southern Israeli towns of Ashkelon and Sderot on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Israeli artillery continued shelling the Palestinian areas near the border between the northern Gaza Strip and Israel, where a buffer zone was set up to dent militants' rocket attacks.

Israeli army sources said that the Palestinian militants fired two more rockets early Saturday from the northern Gaza Strip at Sderot and western Negev, causing no casualties.

Source: Xinhua