• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Israel kills 2 militants; Hamas rocket wounds Israeli

Posted on: Sunday, 11 June 2006, 05:56 CDT

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli helicopter air strike killed two Palestinian militants from Hamas in Gaza on Sunday after a rocket fired by members of the Islamic group seriously wounded an Israeli civilian, medics said.

Witnesses said the helicopter fired a missile at a group of men operating in the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army confirmed the strike, saying it fired after the militants launched a rocket. Three militants were also wounded.

The strike came hours after an Israeli man was wounded when a makeshift Hamas rocket landed near a school in the Israeli town of Sderot, near the Gaza border. A hospital official said the man was in serious condition.

Palestinian militants frequently fire rockets into Israel but seldom cause anything but light damage or injuries. The last time an Israeli was killed by a rocket strike was last July.

The killing of the Hamas militants was the first by Israel since the ruling Islamist group ended a 16-month truce on Friday after seven Palestinians, including three children, were killed on a Gaza beach on a day of Israeli shelling.

Israel has said the killings were a mistake. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed condolences for the deaths on Sunday and promised an investigation.

Since ending its truce, Hamas has fired around two dozen rockets and several mortar rounds into Israel.

Israel has responded by firing artillery shells into Gaza, the coastal strip it pulled out of last year after 38 years of occupation, and carrying out several air strikes, Palestinian medics say.

While home-made Palestinian rocket attacks are common, Hamas's missiles are considered more powerful and accurate than those of other groups, hence the concern in Israel at Hamas ending its truce.

There has been a marked escalation in violence in the past three days, with Hamas threatening a resumption of the type of attacks it has spearheaded against Israel since an uprising began in 2000, including suicide blasts and car bombings.

"We have decided to turn Sderot into a ghost town," Hamas said in a statement on Sunday. Hamas, which took over the Palestinian government in March, is formally sworn to Israel's destruction and has said negotiations with Israel are pointless.

The United States and European Union, which consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization, have said that the group must recognize Israel, cease attacks and abide by existing peace agreements if it wants to be accepted.

REFERENDUM TENSION

Sunday's violence came as Olmert was due to leave on a visit to Britain and France, where he is expected to push for a continued strong European stance against Hamas and to discuss Iran's nuclear program.

The escalation of violence also comes amid growing tension and division within Palestinian politics too.

President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement was defeated in January elections by Hamas, has called for a referendum next month on a document that implicitly recognizes Israel, a move rejected by Hamas.

Polls show, however, that a majority of Palestinians would likely back the statehood document in the referendum scheduled for July 26, a result that could put Hamas under pressure.

As well as the Israeli air strike, another Palestinian militant was killed on Sunday in a blast in a house in Jabaliya, a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

It was unclear what caused the explosion, which some witnesses said was the result of an Israeli air strike and others said was a "work accident." The man killed was a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group. Israel denied involvement.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul and Corinne Heller in Jerusalem)

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category