Gaza Rocket Fire Intensifies

by Isabel Kershner and Taghreed El-Khodary
New York Times
December 24, 2008

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/522/gaza-rocket-fire-intensifies

Palestinian militants from Gaza increased the range and intensity of their rocket fire against Israel on Wednesday as the Israeli security cabinet met here and weighed options including broader military action or efforts for a renewed truce.

About 40 rockets and mortars had slammed into southern Israel by midday, the Israeli military said. The rockets hit the courtyard of a house and a water park in the coastal city of Ashkelon, a factory in an Israeli industrial zone at Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, and a house outside the Western Negev town of Netivot. The strikes caused extensive damage and widespread panic among the residents, but no serious injury.

The military wing of Hamas, the Islamic group that controls Gaza, said in a statement that the rocket fire was "a response to Zionist aggression" and to the economic embargo Israel has imposed on Gaza.

An Israeli force killed three Hamas gunmen on Tuesday close to the border fence in northern Gaza. The military said they were spotted laying explosives. Two more members of the Hamas military wing were killed on Wednesday near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, according to Hamas. Hamas said they were killed by Israel after they had carried out a "jihadi" mission, but an Israeli military spokesman said he had no knowledge of any army activity at that time.

A six-month Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza expired last Friday. On Tuesday, Hamas said that Egypt and other mediators had been in touch to discuss another period of calm. Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, suggested that Hamas would consider renewing the truce if border crossings were opened to allow the regular transfer of goods into Gaza.

Wednesday's intensified rocket fire might have been aimed at pressuring Israel and Egypt to step up efforts for a new truce.

At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups have warned of a harsh response should Israel decide to embark on a broad military operation in Gaza, and Wednesday's fire gave a taste of what could come.

Some Israeli officials have called for tough military action but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have so far maintained a policy of restraint. Defense officials have repeatedly warned that a military invasion of Gaza would be costly in lives on both sides and would not even guarantee an end to the rocket fire.

Most of the rockets fired out of Gaza are locally made, short range projectiles that fall close to the border. Several of those fired on Wednesday were imported Katyusha-type rockets with a longer range. Ashkelon, which lies about 10 miles north of Gaza, has been hit occasionally. Attacks on Netivot, which lies about six miles east of the Gaza border, have been rare.

Briefing the Israeli cabinet on Sunday Yuval Diskin, an Israeli security chief, said that the Hamas military wing had used the six-month lull to improve its firing capabilities and is now able to reach the outskirts of Beersheba and the port city of Ashdod.

The goods crossings on the Gaza border have been almost completely sealed since the truce began to break down in early November. Israel had said it would allow about 40 trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza on Wednesday, but it canceled those plans as a result of the heavy rocket and mortar fire.

Related Topics:  Palestinian Rockets  |  Isabel Kershner  |  Taghreed El-Khodary receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free jewish policy center mailing list