Israel Refuses to Confirm Haniyah’s Office Targeted in 27 Feb Strikes on Gaza

Excerpt from report in English by Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post website on 28 February

[Report by Rebecca Anna Stoil: "IAF air strike hits Haniyah's office"]

The IDF struck back against Gaza’s Hamas leadership late Wednesday night [27 February], after an estimated 50 Qassam rockets and at least four Grad-style Katyusha missiles pummelled the western Negev and Ashkelon over the course of a few hours in the afternoon, killing a student at Sderot’s Sapir Academic College and sending dozens into shock.

The IAF fired a series of missiles at the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza, near where Hamas Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyeh maintains an office. Haniyah, who also holds the Interior Ministry portfolio in the Strip, was not in the office at the time, but Palestinians said that 25 people -many of them passers-by -were wounded in the attack.

As of press time, the IDF would only say that the air force had struck a number of targets within the Gaza Strip, but would not confirm that Haniyah’s ministry was among the sites targeted. [Passage omitted]

The largest barrage in recent months began in the early afternoon, when Hamas fired 11 rockets at Sderot, in response, the group said, to the IDF’s killing of five Hamas gunmen in the morning. The five, according to security establishment assessments, had recently received training overseas to carry out a major attack against an Israeli target.

The Abu Rish Brigades, a branch of Fatah representing a powerful Gaza clan and believed to be allied with Hamas, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon claiming responsibility for the first attacks of the afternoon.

But immediately afterward, Hamas issued its own statement claiming responsibility for the rocket that hit Sapir. Both groups said the attacks were a response to IAF strikes in the Gaza Strip. [Passage omitted]

A video released Wednesday showed footage of Qassams fired from residential areas in Gaza, a scenario that makes it difficult to strike back against rocket-launching cells without harming civilians.

“The firing of rockets by Hamas at Israeli civilians from within populated Palestinian areas is a war crime that harms both Israelis and Palestinians,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Hamas’s terrorism not only endangers the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, it also endangers peace and stability in the region as a whole.”

Later, in the early evening, four Grad-style missiles, Soviet- made devices similar to the Katyushas used by Hezbollah against communities in the North, and with greater range than Qassam rockets, hit Ashkelon, causing major power outages. One missile struck 150 metres from Barzilai Hospital, where victims of the earlier attacks on Sderot were being treated. Barzilai officials said that other than the windows, the hospital was not reinforced against rocket attacks. [Passage omitted]

Starting on Thursday, some bomb shelters in Sderot that had been repaired -and then locked to prevent damage or theft -will be unlocked and made available for use. One such bomb shelter stood only a few metres from where 10-year-old Yossi Haimov was wounded by a Qassam on Monday afternoon.

Originally published by The Jerusalem Post website, Jerusalem, in English 28 Feb 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Middle East. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.