Last update - 00:00 16/10/2006
IAF fires missiles in northern Gaza after Qassam hits Sderot
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
An Israel Air Force aircraft fired missiles at northern Gaza late Monday, aiming for rocket launchers after a Qassam landed near Sderot earlier in the day.
No one was reported hurt as a result of the IAF missile fire. The army said the missile attack was aimed to destroy rocket launchers, often used to fire Qassams at southern towns in Israel.
Israeli forces have been carrying out air strikes almost nightly against suspected militants and rocket launchers in Gaza as part of an offensive launched after a soldier was captured in a cross-border raid by Hamas-linked gunmen in June.
Earlier in the day, militants in the Gaza Strip had fired at least two Qassam rockets at the western Negev, one of which landed next to a home in the town of Sderot, lightly wounding a woman in the leg.
Seven other people were treated for shock. Another Qassam landed earlier in the day next to Kibbutz Nir-Am, also in the western Negev.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Monday morning that no one is eager for a military ground incursion deep into the heart of Gaza but added that Israel would not allow the Strip to turn into south Lebanon.
Peretz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee about the escalation in Gaza that "operations are now being undertaken with the recommendation of the Israel Defense Forces and intelligence bodies. These operations are of a much wider scale than they have been up until now. [Nevertheless], no one is eager for a deep ground operation throughout Gaza."
The defense minister confirmed that the political echelon had approved a step-up in military operations against Palestinian organizations in Gaza - including the use of ground and air forces. Operations are also undergoing against the digging of tunnels in densely populated areas.
"We will not approve the transformation of the Gaza Strip into south Lebanon," Peretz said. "From our perspective, we are done with the period when we made efforts to determine [which militant organization] fired each missile. We will strike out at everyone, and it doesn't matter what organization they belong to."
He expressed hope that diplomatic overtures to the Palestinian Authority would moderate the escalation in Gaza.
Regarding a Military Intelligence report Sunday accusing Syria of continuing to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon in violation of a United Nations-backed ceasefire, Peretz said Israel could take military action if the shipments didn't stop.
"We view this with great severity," Peretz said according to a legislative spokesman who along with Peretz heard an MI officer give details of the alleged smuggling.
Also Monday, an Islamic Jihad militant was killed and another seriously wounded when the explosive device they were preparing near Khan Yunis prematurely exploded. Both the dead and the wounded were members of the Al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.