Israel mounts new strikes in Gaza after attacks

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel launched missile strikes in Gaza on
Tuesday, targeting buildings it said were used by militants in
response to renewed Palestinian rocket attacks on the Jewish
state.

The flare-up of violence — one of the worst since Israel
quit the Gaza Strip last month — followed Israel’s killing of
a top Islamic Jihad militant in the occupied West Bank and
threatened to unravel an eight-month-old ceasefire.

The Palestinian Authority said it had deployed forces near
launching sites overnight to stop rocket attacks.

Both Israeli and Palestinian security sources said firing
by militants ultimately ceased.

Israel, whose Gaza pullout after 38 years of occupation
raised Middle East peace hopes, launched its latest air strikes
before dawn following similar strikes and artillery fire at
militant targets late on Monday. The air strikes were the first
since last month.

A Palestinian woman and her two daughters were wounded in
one of the Israeli strikes, medics said. The strikes destroyed
two buildings linked to Islamic Jihad and militants from
President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah party.

Islamic Jihad gunmen said they had fired 25 rockets into
Israel to avenge Israel’s killing on Monday of Loai Assadi, one
of their commanders and the most senior militant killed since
the start of the truce.

Israel had said after the rocket salvoes, which caused no
casualties, it would respond to any militant attacks.

ROCKETS LANDED SHORT

Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa
vowed authorities would no longer tolerate militant rocket
fire, saying several rockets had fallen short, landing in
Palestinian residential areas although no one was hurt.

“This act does not serve the interests of the Palestinian
people, especially since there was a Palestinian agreement not
to launch these actions from the Gaza Strip,” he said.

Militant groups including Islamic Jihad, sworn to Israel’s
destruction, had said last month they would stop attacks from
Gaza after Israel killed several militants.

The Jewish state has often targeted buildings in Gaza that
it says were used by militants since the start of a Palestinian
uprising in 2000.

Abbas said the killing of Assadi in the West Bank had
undermined his efforts to maintain calm under a ceasefire he
agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in February.

The Israeli army accused Assadi of masterminding two
suicide bombings that killed 10 Israelis since the truce and
said he was planning further attacks.

Abbas wants to ensure that violence does not disrupt
legislative elections due in January. The leading militant
group Hamas has also said it wants to ensure calm for the
elections in which it is participating for the first time. It
is expected to mount a serious challenge to Fatah.