Last update - 02:16 28/02/2008
Israel vows unprecedented response
By Amos Harel
A senior defense official said last night that the Israeli response to the rocket fire on Sderot and Ashkelon is expected to be particularly harsh, and that Israel does not intend to let pass Hamas' decision to escalate its offensive measures.
Late last night, Israeli jets blasted a government building in Gaza. Palestinian health officials said a baby was killed in the attack, and 30 people were injured. Witnesses said the building was empty. The IDF said all targets that were attacked were centers of terrorist activity.
Military sources told Haaretz that in the next few weeks the IDF will complete its preparations for a major ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. However, they added that the final decision on a wide-scale incursion is in the hands of the government, and no decision has been made yet.
Discussion over entering Gaza ratcheted up yesterday following the death of a 43-year-old Israeli civilian who was killed by a Qassam rocket in Sderot yesterday. Hamas fired some 50 rockets at Israel on the worst day of fighting the Gaza Strip border has seen in more than two weeks. Several rockets hit Ashkelon.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak went to Sderot yesterday to meet with the heads of communities in the area.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday during his visit to Japan that there is a war going on in the south of Israel and the Gaza Strip.
"No one in Hamas, neither among the low ranks nor among the senior ranks, will be immune to that war," Olmert threatened.
Sources in the prime minister's entourage said that Olmert was briefed by the military secretary on the rocket fire against Sderot and the Israeli civilian killed there. Olmert was informed that the Hamas was responsible for that attack, and the assessment was that it came in response to the killing of six members of Hamas during IDF operations in the morning.
However, regarding the possibility of an offensive in the Gaza Strip, Olmert said: "I do not recall speaking even once about a ground operation in the Strip."
Earlier, Olmert said that he had not received any concrete offer from Hamas for a cease-fire with Israel.
In the Gaza Strip yesterday, Israeli army operations claimed the lives of 10 Palestinians, reportedly including four civilians.
The fighting in the Strip began before dawn yesterday, when an Islamic jihad operative was killed in an Israel Air Force attack. Several hours later, around 9 A.M., an IAF craft attacked two vehicles near Khan Yunis, killing five operatives from Hamas. Palestinian sources reported that two of the fatalities had held senior positions in the group's rocket operations, and that the five had recently returned to the Strip following military training in Iran and Syria.
According to the Shin Bet security service, the five operatives were planning a major terrorist attack in the near future, making it imperative that they be hit immediately. Security sources said that Hamas viewed the killing of its five operatives as a severe blow, and therefore chose to respond harshly.
The rocket fire began close to 2 P.M., with a salvo of 11 Qassams at Sderot. By evening, more than 40 Qassams had hit Sderot and its environs, while at least another four rockets landed in Ashkelon.
The rockets that reached Ashkelon were apparently Katyushas of the GRAD type. One hit the grounds of the city's Barzilai Medical Center.
Yesterday evening, the IAF attacked several rocket launchers in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources said that four civilians were killed in these attacks, including a teenager and a child, both boys.
Meanwhile in the West Bank city of Nablus, the Israel Police elite counter-terrorist unit, Yamam, killed a wanted Palestinian from the armed wing of Fatah, and arrested four other operatives.
The Shin Bet said that the five Fatah gunmen were involved in planning a terrorist attack, as revenge for the killing of another wanted man, Ahmed Sanakra, in a clash with Israel Defense Forces troops in Nablus several weeks ago.