Israel army says Gaza militant rocket firing drops

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israel army said on Thursday that
Palestinian militant rocket fire from Gaza had dropped, just
days after Israeli officials threatened leaders of the Hamas
government.

The ruling Islamic militant group scrapped a 16-month truce
with Israel last Friday and its armed wing had responded by
firing a barrage of crude rockets at Israel from the Gaza
Strip.

“We definitely see a reduction … though the shooting does
continue,” said a military spokesman.

Army Radio reported four makeshift rockets hit the Israeli
town of Sderot, near Gaza, on Thursday.

Medics said two people were lightly wounded. The Islamic
Jihad militant group claimed responsibility.

The Haaretz newspaper, quoting Palestinian sources, said
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas had asked the group’s
armed wing to halt firing rockets in the wake of the threats
against the movement’s leadership.

Senior Hamas officials denied the report and a Hamas
statement claimed firing one rocket overnight.

“There is no talk about calm under the bloody escalation
from the Israel occupation that has gone to the extent of
eliminating entire families,” said Hamas lawmaker Mushir
al-Masri.

Earlier this week a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert’s party threatened Haniyeh with assassination if
the group renewed suicide bombings in Israel.

The military spokesman — speaking before the latest
launchings — said eight rocket attacks had been detected in
the past day, down from 30 to 40 a day after Hamas ended the
truce.

Hamas broke the ceasefire after the deaths of seven
Palestinians on a Gaza beach, including several members of the
same family, in a blast militants said was caused by Israeli
shellfire. Israel has said an investigation has shown its
forces were not to blame.

Israel has carried out several air strikes on
rocket-launching squads in recent days.

A missile attack on a van carrying militants and rockets
killed 11 Palestinians, nine of them civilians, in Gaza on
Tuesday in the deadliest such strike in nearly four years.

Hamas carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings in Israel
after the start of an uprising in 2000 but halted such attacks
in mid-2004. It had largely heeded the truce reached in early
2005.