Israel attacks targets throughout Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - January 3, 2008 Palestinians accused Israel of poisoning the atmosphere ahead of
President Bush's visit to the region next week.
In strikes all over Gaza, Israeli aircraft and tanks hit
buildings the Israelis said were used by militants. In one clash,
Israel shelled a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing
a militant along with his mother, sister and brother. Israeli army
spokeswoman Capt. Noa Meir said militants were "intentionally
using civilian areas" to fire at troops and blamed them for the
deaths.
After the shelling, the three-story house leaned to one side,
barely standing, as an Israeli bulldozer leveled land nearby.
In another strike, a 14-year-old boy was critically wounded. His
limp body, a mangled foot dangling, was rushed into a hospital
emergency room.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas,
condemned the army offensive, which followed the firing of a
Katyusha rocket into Israel.
Katyushas can hit targets up to 19 miles away, about twice the
range of the thousands of the homemade projectiles that Gaza
militants have fired at Israel in recent years.
The Katyusha fired Thursday exploded in the northern part of
Ashkelon, about 11 miles from Gaza - the longest reach yet of a
Palestinian rocket. No one was hurt, but Israel considered it an
escalation and its response reflected that.
"The Palestinians have attacked a major Israeli city ... and
thus have upped the ante," said government spokesman David Baker.
"Israel will not allow any cities to be attacked by Palestinian
rocket fire."
For weeks the Israelis have been conducting pinpoint strikes at
suspected Gaza militants involved in rocket fire. On Thursday they
reverted to the tactic of hitting buildings, putting civilians in
the line of fire.
"We consider what's going on in Gaza ... as a bloody Israeli
message in which Israel shirks itself of any commitment before the
arrival of President Bush to the region," Abu Rdeneh said. He did
not mention the Katyusha rocket.
In published comments Thursday, Bush said he would not let a
future Palestinian state become a base for attacks on Israel.
"I won't lend a hand to the establishment of a terror state on
the borders of Israel," Bush told the Israeli daily Yediot
Ahronot, which said the full interview would be published Friday.
Bush is due to arrive Wednesday.
Israel's Supreme Court, meanwhile, upheld reductions of fuel
supplies from Israel to Gaza, rejecting claims by rights groups
that the cutbacks are causing a humanitarian crisis. The reductions
are part of Israel's campaign against Gaza militants and the Hamas
government there.
Palestinian militants pelt southern Israel with crude rockets
every day, causing little damage or casualties while badly
disrupting life in towns around Gaza.
During the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon in summer 2006, when
Hezbollah guerrillas pelted northern Israel with almost 4,000
Katyusha rockets, killing dozens, wounding hundreds and causing
widespread damage that showed how the unguided, relatively simple
rockets can cause havoc.
Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed
responsibility for Thursday's Katyusha attack. "We are going to
launch more strikes in the depth of the entity (Israel)," they
said in a joint statement. The Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine-General Command, a tiny group backed by Hamas, also
claimed responsibility.
Ashkelon Mayor Roni Mehatzri called for an Israeli invasion of
Gaza to stop the attacks, now that his city of 120,000 is in range.
"It's just madness, just madness," he told Channel 10 TV.
"Israel should have acted in Gaza a long time ago."
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned an Israeli
invasion of Gaza is nearing, but previous large-scale ground
operations have failed to halt the rocket fire while causing heavy
casualties and damage and usually sparking an international outcry
against Israel.
Yossi Peled, a retired army general, said putting Israeli cities
in rocket range may require Israel to hit back hard, despite the
inevitable criticism. "The government of Israel will have to take
some very tough decisions," Peled told Israel TV.
Admitting it does not have an answer to the rocket barrages,
Israel commissioned a high-tech project called "Iron Dome" that
features radar and projectiles to shoot down the rockets, but it is
several years away from deployment.
Instead, Israel wants to limit the inflow of weapons to Gaza,
charging that tons of arms and explosives, including Katyushas,
have been smuggled through tunnels from Egypt, and Egypt has not
done enough to stop the flow - angering the Egyptians.
On Wednesday Israel protested hotly after Egypt allowed more
than 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims returning from Mecca to enter Gaza
without Israeli checks. They included Hamas leaders who were said
to be carrying large amounts of cash to circumvent an international
boycott of their Islamic extremist Gaza government.
Among the dead Thursday was an activist from Abbas' Fatah, who
was among those who returned a day earlier. He was arrested by
Hamas and was killed in an airstrike on the prison where he was
being held. Fatah officials accused Hamas of leaving him there as a
target after they abandoned the location.