Last update - 03:24 10/02/2008
Brothers badly wounded by Qassam in Sderot
By Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies , By Mijal Grinberg, Yuval Azoulay and Amos Harel
Two brothers aged 8 and 19 from Sderot were seriously wounded yesterday when a Qassam rocket struck near a home in the city. Defense officials threatened retaliation for the attack - for which the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility - but said for now Israel would not employ "new methods."
The two wounded brothers were rushed to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon with the 8-year-old suffering serious injuries to his legs. "The child was walking in the street when the rocket fell," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. A medic said he heard a loud explosion and rushed to the scene.
"I found two injured people - one boy very seriously wounded in the legs," the medic said. The younger brother's legs were at least partially severed by the explosion, sources said. He also suffered from injuries to his upper body. The boys' mother and brother were brought to the hospital suffering from shock, medical officials said.
"Israel will take resolute and decisive measures to protect our citizens," government spokesman David Baker said. "We will not allow Israeli families to be victimized by Palestinian rockets in the heart of their own cities."
Sources close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he told Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, who visited Israel last week, that he is "under pressure" to launch a massive land operation in Gaza. Olmert is reported to have consulted with Defense Minister Ehud Barak several times about the appropriate reaction to the latest Qassam attack.
Defense officials told Haaretz they thought the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip were stepping up their efforts to fire Qassams into Israel in retaliation for the IDF strikes last week that killed seven Hamas men.
"Israel will not react out of impulse. We will discuss this and decide how to proceed," Olmert was quoted as saying. The subject is expected to come up at the cabinet meeting today in Jerusalem.
The rocket that wounded the brothers was one of three that hit the rocket-weary city yesterday evening. Three other rockets were fired into southern Israel earlier in the day, causing no casualties or damage.
Islamic Jihad's armed wing, the Al-Quds Brigade, claimed responsibility for yesterday evening's Qassam attack. Hamas said that since last Tuesday, its own militants have fired 154 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel.
"The Zionist enemy must understand that the policy of assassinations, of attacks, of embargo, of cutting electricity and fuel will not halt the resistance and will not break the back of the Palestinians," said a senior Hamas official, Ismail Radwan. "We warn them of a large volcano that will erupt if their aggression increases."
Earlier, the Israel Air Force targeted four Qassam rocket-launching squads in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip, following a barrage of 30 rockets Friday that pounded southern Israeli communities. The rocket that injured the two brothers was also launched from Beit Hanun, defense officials in Jerusalem said.
The IAF struck another Qassam-launching squad in Beit Hanun before that attack, seriously wounding a militant believed to belong to the Popular Resistance Committees, a small militant group with ties to Hamas.
Avi Issacharoff and Barak Ravid contributed to this article