TERRORISTS SET DEADLINE

Palestinian militants issue ultimatum to Israel Nidal al-Mughrabi

BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Palestinian militants who abducted an Israeli soldier gave Israel less than 24 hours on Monday to meet their demands to release Palestinian prisoners, threatening unspecified consequences if it refused.  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rejected the ultimatum.

"If the enemy does not agree to our humanitarian demands ... we will regard this case as closed," said "Military Communique 3," issued by the armed wing of the governing Hamas movement and two other factions.  "We give the Zionist enemy until 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) tomorrow, Tuesday, the fourth of July," the statement said.

In previous communiques, the groups called on Israel, as a first stage, to release some 400 Palestinian women and youths in its prisons in return for information about Corporal Gilad Shalit, abducted in a June 25 raid launched from Gaza. The groups -- Hamas' Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees and the previously unknown Islamic Army -- subsequently demanded Israel free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. Unless the demands were met, the factions said, "the enemy will bear full responsibility for future consequences."