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Israel mounts new strikes in Gaza after attacks

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 04:47 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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