Israel continues Gaza raids amid lull in factional unrest
Sunday, May 20, 2007
ISRAEL pounded targets across Gaza for a fifth straight day yesterday, killing one Palestinian amid ongoing rocket fire against the Jewish state and a lull in Palestinian factional fighting.
The Israeli army said it carried out an air raid against "three members of a Qassam rocket-launching cell that had just fired a rocket towards Israel".
A Palestinian, identified by medics as a civilian, was killed in the northern Gaza attack while five others were wounded.
Aircraft overnight targeted two metal workshops in Gaza City where the army said Qassam rockets were being made, as well as the offices of an association of the Fatah movement.
Israeli tanks which had crossed into Palestinian territory in northern Gaza in recent days also opened fire towards suspected rocket launchers, the army said. Five Palestinians were wounded in the raids.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said yesterday that while the army would continue its current operations to curb rocket fire, Israel did not intend to carry out an extensive ground operation in Gaza, which it quit in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.
"We should consider when the (ground) operation needs to be carried out. It is not necessary right now and we have sufficient room for manoeuvre," Peretz told public radio.
He said that Israel would continue its operation in an effort to "reduce the Qassam fire and possibly bring it to a complete halt ... We are focusing on the most sensitive targets for Hamas and the rocket manufacturing facilities".Despite the presence of Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip's border with the Jewish state, defiant militants have fired at least 50 rockets into Israeli territory in recent days, wounding six civilians and driving hundreds of people from the town of Sderot, which has borne the brunt of the barrage.
The rocket attacks continued overnight and yesterday morning, when one person was lightly wounded in Sderot.
Israel air strikes on Gaza, which resumed last Tuesday for the first time in six months in response to the continuing rocket fire, have killed 18 Palestinians, including at least two civilians.AFP
The Israeli army said it carried out an air raid against "three members of a Qassam rocket-launching cell that had just fired a rocket towards Israel".
A Palestinian, identified by medics as a civilian, was killed in the northern Gaza attack while five others were wounded.
Aircraft overnight targeted two metal workshops in Gaza City where the army said Qassam rockets were being made, as well as the offices of an association of the Fatah movement.
Israeli tanks which had crossed into Palestinian territory in northern Gaza in recent days also opened fire towards suspected rocket launchers, the army said. Five Palestinians were wounded in the raids.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said yesterday that while the army would continue its current operations to curb rocket fire, Israel did not intend to carry out an extensive ground operation in Gaza, which it quit in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.
"We should consider when the (ground) operation needs to be carried out. It is not necessary right now and we have sufficient room for manoeuvre," Peretz told public radio.
He said that Israel would continue its operation in an effort to "reduce the Qassam fire and possibly bring it to a complete halt ... We are focusing on the most sensitive targets for Hamas and the rocket manufacturing facilities".Despite the presence of Israeli forces along the Gaza Strip's border with the Jewish state, defiant militants have fired at least 50 rockets into Israeli territory in recent days, wounding six civilians and driving hundreds of people from the town of Sderot, which has borne the brunt of the barrage.
The rocket attacks continued overnight and yesterday morning, when one person was lightly wounded in Sderot.
Israel air strikes on Gaza, which resumed last Tuesday for the first time in six months in response to the continuing rocket fire, have killed 18 Palestinians, including at least two civilians.AFP
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