Seven Palestinians Killed in Gaza; Israel Hit by Rocket Barrage

by David Rosenberg and Saud Abu-Ramadan
Bloomberg
June 12, 2008

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/202/seven-palestinians-killed-in-gaza-israel-hit-by

At least seven Palestinians were killed in Gaza Strip violence, four of them in an explosion at a house and three others as they raided an Israeli border post. Two people were injured by Palestinian rockets.

The blast at a home in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya today was probably caused by explosives inside the house, Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergencies at the Palestinian Health Ministry, said by phone. About 25 people were injured.

Earlier, three militants belonging to Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, were shot dead as they attacked the Erez crossing point on the border with Israel, a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces said by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity. No soldiers were injured.

The violence comes as Israel and Hamas try to reach terms for a cease-fire. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's security cabinet yesterday pledged to continue Egypt-mediated talks with Hamas while instructing the army to prepare for the "unfortunate event that the Egyptian track should prove unsuccessful."

A barrage of 40 rockets and mortar shells fired by Gaza militants injured an Israeli woman from Kibbutz Yad Mordechai and a Palestinian who was at the Erez cross, an IDF spokeswoman said.

"Just one day after Israel expressed full support for the Egyptian initiative, Hamas for no logical reason whatsoever has embarked on a bombardment of southern Israel with a huge barrage of missiles, rockets and mortar shells in the south," Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert's office, said by telephone.

Three of the rockets were of the advanced Grad type, one of which hit the city of Ashkelon, the army said. The rest were mainly launched at Israel's western Negev region, which has borne the brunt of the approximately 2,400 Palestinian rockets in the past six months. Most are homemade Qassam projectiles.

Hamas, which seized control of Gaza a year ago, said an Israeli F-16 jet bombed the Beit Lahiya house. The IDF in an e- mail denied any responsibility for the explosion.

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