Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., May 29, 2008 Iyyar 24, 5768 | | Israel Time: 11:03 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Peres Conference Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
Security forces inspecting the damage to a car following a Qassam rocket strike in which a woman was killed and two others wounded on Monday. (Roni Schizer / Jini)
Last update - 02:34 22/05/2007
Livni: Israel must fight Hamas, cease-fire would be a deception
Woman killed, two wounded in Qassam rocket strike on Sderot
By Mijal Grinberg and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and News Agencies

A 35-year-old woman was killed and two others wounded Monday evening when a Qassam rocket struck a car in the western Negev town of Sderot.

The woman, Shir-El Friedman, was standing next to the car at the time of the strike and was taken to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. Hospital spokeswoman Lea Malul said she died on the way to the hospital.

The two wounded individuals, one of whom was moderately hurt and the other lightly injured, were also evacuated to Barzilai Hospital, along with twelve others who suffered from shock.
Advertisement
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committees all claimed responsibility for the attack.

This is the first fatality in an unrelenting barrage of rockets fired at Sderot and the western Negev in recent days, which has caused widespread damage and left several other people wounded.

The last Israeli fatality in a Qassam rocket attack, 43-year-old Yaakov Yaakobov, was killed in the town in late November.

The attack came during a meeting in Sderot between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief. They were not harmed. (For more on Solana's visit, click here)

In a joint press conference with Solana, Livni rejected any possibility of a cease-fire with Hamas. "A cease-fire is a kind of deception," she said. "Even during periods of so-called quiet, Hamas takes advantage of the situation to smuggle arms."

During the press conference, Livni received a note from Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal, informing her of the woman's death.

"Qassams are the result of Hamas' strengthening, and this is a strategic problem that must be dealt with and we will keep fighting Hamas," she continued. "Fighting terror does not mean making deals with terrorist organizations, we must demonstrate a fundamental change in the field."

"No nation would tolerate the consistent rocketing of its citizens, and neither will Israel," David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, told Haaretz following the attack. "We will continue to take whatever steps are necessary to bring these attacks to an end and to prevent terror from being inflicted upon the residents of Sderot and the western Negev."

Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said Abbas is making efforts to restore the cease-fire that greatly reduced Israel-Palestinian violence in Gaza from November until last week.

Erekat told The Associated Press that Abbas is calling on international mediators to press Israel to halt its strikes and on Hamas to stop the rocket salvos.

Following the attack, hundreds of Sderot residents gathered around the town hall, throwing stones and breaking its doors. The protesters chanted "Arcadi for prime minister," in reference to billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, who on several occasions has provided hundreds of Sderot residents with hotel stays in Israeli cities in order to give them a break from the rocket fire.

Earlier, the protestors also tried to block Livni from leaving the town.

According to the IDF, a total of 15 rockets were fired at the area on Monday. Two struck early in the day, one of which slammed into and damaged a road. No injuries were reported. Another rocket hit the area Monday evening, causing no injuries, and a rocket hit a field near Sderot later in the day, causing a fire but no injuries.

Some 15 rockets hit the Sderot area on Sunday.

Meanwhile Monday, the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command distributed instructions on what to do in the case of a rocket attack to the residents of Netivot, which is located roughly 15 kilometers from the Gaza Strip and is in range of improved Qassams as well as Katyusha rockets.

Roughly one year ago rockets hit slightly to the west of the town, and the IDF is preparing for the possibility that further escalation in the Gaza Strip will bring rocket fire on Netivot and Ashkelon as well.


The IDF on Monday also called up 35 reserve medics on emergency orders to serve in Sderot, Ashkelon, and other parts of the western Negev, Army Radio reported.

The escalation in the Gaza Strip has spurred concern in the IDF that Hamas will again attempt to kidnap Israeli troops, Army Radio reported Monday.

Last June, Hamas and other armed groups attacked an IDF post on Israeli soil bordering Gaza, killing two soldiers and wounding four, one of whom, Corporal Gilad Shalit, was taken captive.

"Israeli forces in the area of the Gaza Strip have been instructed to raise their alertness level for fear that terror organizations may attempt to carry out kidnappings," the radio reported.

It said the concerns were increased after overnight Israeli air strikes, one of which hit the house of Hamas parliamentarian Khalil al-Haya in Gaza. The lawmaker was slightly injured in the attack, but eight others including seven members of his family were killed, and 13 people were wounded
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Scuba SMS
Ultrasonic sound wave technology revolutionizes underwater communication.
'Hip-hop violinist'
Israeli violinist participates in New York event, celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary.
  1.   BBC is worse enemy than Hamas 10:36  |  Lemar 21/05/07
  2.   4 kassams 16:56  |  ljf-canada 21/05/07
  3.   BBC sould change its name to HOS !!! 17:11  |  Alberto Cohen 21/05/07
  4.   Emergency call-up 17:54  |  Henk 21/05/07
  5.   4 qassams, so what? 18:44  |  Rolf 21/05/07
  6.   To # 5 , Rolf in Berlin 19:38  |  Henk 21/05/07
  7.   to mr.berlin 19:46  |  EREZ 21/05/07
  8.   Fair reporting? 20:12  |  L. Damboviteanu 21/05/07
  9.   35 whole soldiers? must be a joke,bus a sick onet 20:12  |  Vogel 21/05/07
  10.   Israelis, you`re funny! 20:31  |  Emad 21/05/07
  11.   Vogel 20:40  |  Realistic 21/05/07
  12.   #5; you must be referring to Lebanon`s shelling the past 2 days 20:42  |  Cynic 21/05/07
  13.   to #4 20:43  |  Ari 21/05/07
  14.   BBC reporting 20:43  |  Lynn 21/05/07
  15.   BBC 20:44  |  vendelah 21/05/07
  16.   Mobilze All Streetcleaners! 20:49  |  Andrew 21/05/07
  17.   Good Bye, Pals: To Egypt, Jordan & Hell 20:54  |  Francois 21/05/07
  18.   Israelis: Expel BBC correspondents and give the reason: 20:54  |  Vittorio 21/05/07
  19.   Olmert knew this would happen 20:57  |  Sidney 21/05/07
  20.   The BBC 21:02  |  Jerry 21/05/07
  21.   So weird. Why aren`t Sderotim given rockets to fire at Gaza? 21:03  |  Puzzled in Joplin 21/05/07
  22.   #2 - BB 21:04  |  JJ 21/05/07
  23.   Eo Emad 21:05  |  Tali 21/05/07
  24.   Not exactly, Lemar 21:07  |  David James Vickery 21/05/07
  25.   4 qassams 21:07  |  Lilly 21/05/07
  26.   BBC interviews Kadafi 21:08  |  John Zrubak 21/05/07
  27.   Time to get busy 21:13  |  Robert 21/05/07
  28.   BBC is the best friend of Israel 21:14  |  Isreali 21/05/07
  29.   Woman killed in Qassam rocket strike on Sderot 21:14  |  vik 21/05/07
  30.   Qassams in Sderot: Israel should fire Qassams back into Gaza 21:16  |  Ray Warren 21/05/07
  31.   How to control those people 21:16  |  Eric 21/05/07
  32.   WHERE IS APARTHEID - SAYS KASSAMS JUST FIRECRACKERS 21:16  |  Lee 21/05/07
  33.   Emad considers restraint failure 21:18  |  Jacob Blues 21/05/07
  34.   `s not BBC,it`s the US State Department which is the greatest ene 21:18  |  Absolute Sweden 21/05/07
  35.   Israel created HAMAS. 21:22  |  Genesis 21/05/07
  36.   #27 - Time to get Busy 21:23  |  Mickie 21/05/07
  37.   #10 Emad 21:24  |  Christina 21/05/07
  38.   224 million peopel watch the BBC every week 21:26  |  Peter Smith 21/05/07
  39.   Hurray Ray Warren! 21:28  |  Mickie 21/05/07
  40.   BBC are scum 21:28  |  SystemF 21/05/07
  41.   An idea for people of Sderot 21:29  |  SystemF 21/05/07
  42.   Biased News 21:36  |  Nathan Hersh 21/05/07
  43.   Fire Olmert 21:38  |  Polybios 21/05/07
  44.   Sick Galut Mentality 21:38  |  HonestAbe 21/05/07
  45.   It`s time to kill Hanyeh and dismantle PA 21:41  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 21/05/07
  46.   If you are so upset by the BBC 21:41  |  Chris Linthwaite 21/05/07
  47.   The Brits are butt-hurt 21:42  |  Joseph 21/05/07
  48.   To all the Brits. 21:47  |  Lenny 21/05/07
  49.   The Prime Minister 21:56  |  Jesse 21/05/07
  50.   to #21 Joplin 21:57  |  MLK 21/05/07
  51.   # 35 Genesis 22:02  |  Christina 21/05/07
  52.   Good idea 22:06  |  damboviteanu 21/05/07
  53.   Why Jews don`t shoot randomly 22:10  |  MLK 21/05/07
  54.   Chris Linthwaite 46 BBC 22:11  |  Lee 21/05/07
  55.   Un-natural interest 22:13  |  Happy Limey 21/05/07
  56.   Pour "Francois" 22:14  |  Damboviteanu 21/05/07
  57.   Today`s Britain 22:18  |  Mark 21/05/07
  58.   Emad - re 10 22:19  |  Lee 21/05/07
  59.   to Shlomo from TA 22:20  |  MLK 21/05/07
  60.   From Lemar on down- the BBC must go. 22:24  |  Chick Corea 21/05/07
  61.   Leftists 22:25  |  Michael 21/05/07
  62.   Once the IRA sent a rocket exploding a mile away from the BBC 22:26  |  Absolute Sweden 21/05/07
  63.   Un Natural Interest 22:27  |  Damboviteanu 21/05/07
  64.   #54 Lee 22:30  |  Chris Linthwaite 21/05/07
  65.   BBC is institutionally anti Israel 22:30  |  Les 21/05/07
  66.   BBC is neutral and objective 22:35  |  Fuad Al-Hamawi 21/05/07
  67.   To Rolf of Krautland 22:36  |  ottomatik 21/05/07
  68.   I agree with you, Lemar Nº1 22:40  |  Fortuna Benmayor 21/05/07
  69.   #65 22:41  |  Chris Linthwaite 21/05/07
  70.   My condolences to this poor woman`s family 22:45  |  Gina 21/05/07
  71.