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Last update - 07:36 29/02/2008 Gaza offensive looms as violence spirals By Yuval Azoulay, Avi Issacharoff and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies Tags: Ashkelon, Palestinians  The escalating fighting between Israel and Hamas peaked Thursday with a direct hit by a long-range rocket on a home in the port city of Ashkelon and the killing of at least 18 Palestinians in Gaza air strikes . These included five boys. Israeli military analysts say that as Ashkelon becomes a permanent target of Hamas missile attacks, an Israeli ground offensive is becoming inevitable and likely to occur sooner rather than later. After a dense barrage of rockets Thursday, fired by Hamas militants against Sderot, and the recent killing of a man at Sapir College, the Israel Defense Forces intensified its air attacks against Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip. Hamas sources claimed to have fired 82 rockets since Wednesday, 51 of them at Sderot. Advertisement Also Thursday, a much-anticipated IDF ground offensive seemed to move one step closer with Defense Minister Ehud Barak declaring that such an operation "was a real likelihood." Early Thursday evening, a Katyusha-type rocket struck a building in Ashkelon, crashing through the roof of an apartment building and slicing through three floors. No casualties were reported. In another Grad-missile attack on Ashkelon, a 17-year-old girl was lightly hurt and several other people were treated for shock. The Color Red alert system will be activated in Ashkelon today. A senior Israeli security official said that the rockets fired into Ashkelon have been Iranian-made imports, with a range of about 22 kilometers, but some locally made rockets have fallen on the southern outskirts of the city. The missiles, known as Grads, are taken apart, smuggled into Gaza through tunnels, and reassembled. But Hamas has only a limited supply, the source said. Earlier in the day the IDF air offensive was intense, targeting Hamas positions, Palestinian government buildings, and rocket-launching crews. In one attack, five boys were killed near the town of Jabalya as they played soccer. An IDF spokesperson said the aircraft targeted militants who were in the process of firing rockets at Israel. "We are at the height of the battle," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in Tokyo, where he met U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is scheduled to visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority next week. Rice said that "the issue is that the attacks (rocket attacks) need to stop." Olmert appeared to suggest that a major Israeli ground operation against militants in the Gaza Strip was not imminent, saying Israel's fight against them was a "long process" and it had "no magic formula" to halt frequent rocket attacks. Olmert's statements appeared to be echoed by Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, who visited Sderot Thursday. Dichter rejected proposals to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, calling them "populist ideas which I don't agree with, and in my opinion, no intelligent person does either." However, Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman later said the violence "may leave us no choice" but to send troops back in, two and a half years after Israel ended its occupation of Gaza. Defense Minister Barak told his security chiefs during a meeting Thursday that an offensive is a definite option. "The major ground operation is real and tangible. We are not afraid of it," Barak said, according to sources taking part in the meeting. Barak also told Rice and other Foreign Ministers of the Quartet in phone conversations that Israel would step up its response to the rocket fire, but a ground offensive wasn't imminent. The latest spike in violence began Wednesday, when five Iranian-trained Hamas militants, including two rocket masterminds, were killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza. In retaliation, Hamas fired dozens of Qassam rockets as well as longer-range Iranian-made Grad rockets. Nabil Abu Rudainah, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that Israel's military actions "meant only one thing: the Israeli government ... aims to destroy the peace process". Olmert acknowledged the threat that "the continuous shooting of Qassam rockets against uninvolved, innocent civilians" pose a threat to stability, but vowed to hold his regular meetings with Abbas. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, speaking in East Jerusalem, said: "These stupid missiles being launched - firecrackers, but at the end they have killed Israeli civilians - we condemn this, clearly, openly, straightforwardly. "But at the same time, we condemn all the Israeli incursions into Gaza, killing Palestinian civilians, destroying their houses, preventing them from having a normal life," he said. Hamas officials struck a defiant tone Thursday. "We will never have equipment comparable to our enemy, but we are working all the time to have enough to make any aggression a regrettable adventure for the enemy," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Hamas military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam. In Tokyo, visiting Olmert said that Israel will go after the militants. We will reach out for the terrorists and we will attack and we will try to stop them, he said. Rice, who briefly met with Olmert in Tokyo, said Hamas rocket attacks need to stop, but also expressed concern for the humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged calm on all sides. Israel's public security minister, Avi Dichter, visited Sderot on Thursday, but was forced to cut short a news conference when an air-raid siren went off and his guards rushed him to a concrete shelter. Before Dichter arrived in the town, two people were hurt by rocket fire, including one of his bodyguards. Dichter told reporters he had no quick solution for the rocket problem, but rejected suggestions of opening a dialogue with Hamas. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group. Related articles: Analysis: Long-range strikes could spark invastion IDF kills 20 Palestinians in Gaza, W. Bank, including 5 children Barak: Wide ground operation in Gaza is 'real and tangible' Defense Min. orders rocket alert sirens be activated in Ashkelon Bookmark to del.icio.us   Power to the people Egypt plans to provide all of Gaza's electricity, to wean dependency on Israel. Calculated escalation Hamas has been trying for some time to create a balance of deterrence with Israel.   1.   I feel your pain 02:32  |  Ehud Olmert 29/02/08   2.   More child & civilian deaths to come; with love from Israel xox 02:38  |  POP 29/02/08   3.   Yes Olmert is in a war of just flapping his lips alongside Barak 03:09  |  Shepherd 29/02/08   4.   Olmert & his government - inept fools. 03:21  |  bat yam 29/02/08   5.   20 per day will get you 7300 per year, which 03:28  |  Chas. 29/02/08   6.   Condi, there is also a humanitarian crisis in Sderot!! 04:00  |  Free Gilad Shalit 29/02/08   7.   Dont re-occuppy, just carry on hitting terrorists 04:02  |  Free Gilad Shalit 29/02/08   8.   Gaza must be reoccuppied. 04:22  |  Al 29/02/08   9.   Hamas 04:22  |  alan 29/02/08   10.   Oldemerde should meet Abb-ass in Ashkelon or Sderot 04:26  |  jewish doctor 29/02/08   11.   Another Winograd over the Gaza failure! 05:23  |  BJL 29/02/08   12.   Gaza offensive 05:26  |  Edifice 29/02/08   13.   Olmert doesn`t see a magic formula? 05:30  |  nunya 29/02/08   14.   To Olmert 05:33  |  Oleg 29/02/08   15.   Israel has escalated this violence.... 05:40  |  Dutch 29/02/08   16.   Haniyeh`s head on a platter 06:05  |  Michael Ward 29/02/08   17.   domractic values ??? 06:22  |  MaryRose 29/02/08   18.   Ol` Mert asleep at the helm and the ship Israel floats aimlessly 06:56  |  Steve 29/02/08   19.   Israel will win the battle, but not the war 06:58  |  Hamas 29/02/08   20.   STILL time for Hamas to stop targetting Israeli civillians 07:01  |  PETER SM 29/02/08   21.   WTF??? (yet again!) 07:01  |  Ed Lesemann 29/02/08   22.   I`m not sure, but... 07:43  |  Anette 29/02/08   23.   *15 DUTCH 07:59  |  MIKE 29/02/08   24.   Solution: Move all politicians & their families to Sderot now! 08:03  |  Action!!! 29/02/08   25.   #11 BJL lives in a lobotomized world 08:08  |  Johnboy 29/02/08   26.   #6, Free Gilad Shalit....haven`t you noticed... 08:11  |  Silvienne 29/02/08   27.   The rockets must stop - hahaha! 08:23  |  Condeliza Ricecakes 29/02/08   28.   You kill we kill 08:45  |  A mother 29/02/08   29.   # 8 in New York 09:02  |  Myles 29/02/08   30.   Chauvinism among the pain 09:39  |  x-ray 29/02/08   31.   Sad 10:24  |  Yosi 29/02/08   32.   #13 It isn`t a zero-sum game, nunya 13:52  |  Johnboy 29/02/08   33.   less talk, more rock. bomb them abundantly now. 17:43  |  frenz 29/02/08   34.   #19, Myles and ethnic cleansing... 18:00  |  DR` 29/02/08

Today Online Barak: Hamas will pay for its escalation in the south Responses: 367 Aanalysis: Uncompromising Hamas is in trouble Responses: 199 Bradley Burston: True Islam will spell defeat for the Jihadists Responses: 67 When McCain and Obama face off, Israel may find itself in the eye of the storm Responses: 102 German Jewish leader urges Merkel to back Israel's stance on Iran Responses: 45 Rosner's Domain No "statement of interest" against terror victims (WTR) McCain, Obama gear up for face off over Iraq Battle of Ohio: from James Garfield to Hillary Clinton Poll: Your solution for the situation in Gaza Prosecutor in AIPAC case to leave before trial? (WTR) More Headlines 22:59 Ban: Hezbollah hindering talks on prisoner swap 01:54 Senior Hamas munitions expert killed in IDF strike in Gaza Strip 02:24 Abbas calls for halt to IDF strikes on Gaza, Qassam rockets 19:38 Barak: Hamas will pay for its escalation in the south 19:55 Two people lightly wounded in Qassam barrage on Sderot 09:45 Jerusalem & Babylon / Ignoring Durban summit not an option 21:22 Woman who said was saved from Nazis by wolves admits fabrications 11:10 ANALYSIS / Uncompromising Hamas is in trouble 17:31 Court rejects petition against ban on Habash memorial rally 15:50 When McCain and Obama face off, Israel may find itself in the eye of the storm 13:27 Britain's Prince Harry withdrawn from Afghanistan due to news leak Previous Editions Select Day 29 feb 28 feb 27 feb 26 feb 25 feb 24 feb 22 feb 21 feb 20 feb 19 feb 18 feb 17 feb

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