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Jimmy Kdoshim, 48, was killed by a mortar attack in Kfar Aza on Friday. (Reproduction by David Boimovitch / Jini)
Last update - 10:59 11/05/2008
21 Qassams hit the Negev on Saturday, lightly wounding five
By Avi Issacharoff, Mijal Grinberg and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: mortar, Israel, Palestinians 

At least 21 Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck the western Negev on Saturday, lightly hurting five people.

Several rockets damaged buildings in Israeli towns, including a home that was hit while family members were inside. None of them were injured. Another rocket fired from Gaza shattered the windows of a Sderot synagogue.

One rocket caused damage to a building near Sapir College, another landed near a Sderot yeshiva, and a third hit a water pipe in a nearby farm. The other rockets landed in open areas, with one setting a Sderot field ablaze.
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Earlier, Hamas and Gaza health officials said five of the group's members were killed and four others were wounded in two seperate Israel Air Force strikes on police stations in southern Gaza late Friday.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said the strikes were in response to a mortar attack Friday by Hamas militants that killed Jimmy Kdoshim, a 48-year-old Israeli civilian, as he was tending the garden of his home on Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

A Magen David Adom rescue crew which was summoned to the scene pronounced Kdoshim dead following unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate him.

Alon Schuster, the head of the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council said on Saturday that the government needed to choose between outright war or diplomacy to stop the Qassams. "The events of the last several days, which peaked with the tragic death of a member of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, place a unequivocal objective before the government: wiping out the offensive on the Gaza border towns, whether by war or by discussions."

Also on Saturday, in the northern West Bank town of Jaba, Palestinian youths hurled rocks and firebombs at IDF jeeps. Residents said soldiers responded by firing live rounds and rubber-coated steel pellets, wounding nine Palestinians.

Hamas said the attack on the Gaza town of Rafah targeted a Hamas police station, killing two of its members and wounding four. The other IAF strike killed three Hamas men in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis. Hamas said the casualties were all members of the group's police force.

The IDF spokesperson also confirmed an additional strike early Saturday morning, in which the IAF attacked a group of gunmen near the security fence in the southern Gaza Strip. They confirmed the group was hit, but there was no word yet on casualties.

The radio of Gaza's ruling Hamas movement said the group was responsible for Friday's mortar fire.

"Hamas is clearly in control of the Gaza Strip and responsible for all hostile fire into Israel. We hold it accountable for today's attack and the murder of our civilians," David Baker, an Israeli government spokesman, said Friday.

Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, said militants had targeted a military position.

Asked if the deadly attack wouldn't make it more difficult to conclude a
truce, he replied, "We will continue to fire until the last moment before a truce is completed."

In related news, the mayor of a southern Gaza village said IDF troops had fired flares at farmlands, setting ablaze several acres of wheat and cucmbers.

The IDF said it would look into the report from the village of Khouza. Militants frequently use the area to fire rockets and mortars at southern Israel.

Related articles:
  • Hamas: Gaza-Egypt border to open for three days
  • IAF kills Palestinian, wounds 4 in separate strikes on Gaza
  • Israel boosts security in face of Independence Day terror alerts
  • IAF airstrike kills Hamas gunman in northern Gaza mortar squad
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      1.   Disgusting PALESTINIAN MURDERING of civilians on purpose 19:38  |  Johnny 09/05/08
      2.   Some Article hey clikfool is it ok to say even one death is too m 19:40  |  ROBERT/mONTREAL 09/05/08
      3.   And 19:43  |  Dav 09/05/08
      4.   ISRAEL HAS RIGHT TO RE-TAKE GASA 19:53  |  ALL OF IT 09/05/08
      5.   I bet Hamas will start a thorough probe... 19:54  |  Dutch Dirk 09/05/08
      6.   drop in the bucket 19:55  |  JJ 09/05/08
      7.   Bad things are coming down the road... 19:58  |  bat yam 09/05/08
      8.   will olmert respond now that a israeli was killed?? 20:00  |  vik 09/05/08
      9.   Some much for all the claims that the weapons are harmless 20:09  |  Gee 09/05/08
      10.   Cut the Power 20:13  |  Jordan 09/05/08
      11.   Please help me find the links for this stuff 20:22  |  Rowan 09/05/08
      12.   Dav: thanks for the incomplete picture. Helps us understand... 20:25  |  Richard S 09/05/08
      13.   To level Gaza or to not level Gaza: that is the question 20:26  |  Richard S 09/05/08
      14.   aha, got round the flash intro 20:29  |  Rowan 09/05/08
      15.   My condolences 20:34  |  KUTW 09/05/08
      16.   Pound the terrorists hard 20:37  |  KUTW 09/05/08
      17.   Hamas seeking attention 20:40  |  Josh 09/05/08
      18.   It seems I have been deceiving myself 20:41  |  Rowan 09/05/08
      19.   no 1... jhonny....murder on purpose.... 20:47  |  ravi 09/05/08
      20.   Olmert Follies 20:49  |  Ron 09/05/08
      21.   Empty words again and again 21:11  |  Pat 09/05/08
      22.   IDF neutral in the conflict between Israeli civilians and Hamas 21:11  |  Absolute Sweden 09/05/08
      23.   They kill civilians and then they cry about lifting the siege 21:31  |  Conroy 09/05/08
      24.   War against terrorism. 21:45  |  Jean Van Daem 09/05/08
      25.   Trumpeldor rockets 21:51  |  bobby 09/05/08
      26.   #6 JJ 21:59  |  Sol 09/05/08
      27.   TO NO 1. 22:03  |  DANNY. 09/05/08
      28.   TO DUTCH DIRK IN DRED YOU WILL GO. 22:05  |  DANNY 09/05/08
      29.   #19 ravi 22:07  |  Sol 09/05/08
      30.   Ravi #19, correct Israel does not target civilians on purpose 22:16  |  Johnny 09/05/08
      31.   COOKERY BOOK AROMAS OF ALEPPO POOPA DWECK. 22:17  |  DANNY. 09/05/08
      32.   #19 ravi 22:18  |  Marc 09/05/08
      33.   VISIT. 22:19  |  DANNY 09/05/08
      34.   truce 22:31  |  Shmuelshachor 09/05/08
      35.   israel needs to match rocket for rocket,mortar for mortar,shot 22:34  |  terrornator 09/05/08
      36.   It`s Israel fault that the civilian died 22:34  |  Igor 09/05/08
      37.   These Resistance fighters are fearless 22:34  |  Harold 09/05/08
      38.   Relax. Israel has filed a complaint with the UN 22:36  |  Cynic 09/05/08
      39.   It is a hard time. 22:39  |  Vital 09/05/08
      40.   gaza 22:41  |  saul 09/05/08
      41.   Rowan #18 22:57  |  Gee 09/05/08
      42.   Since the IDF is using Israeli civilians 23:13  |  Andreas 09/05/08
      43.   Don`t blame Hamas 23:32  |  Alex 09/05/08
      44.   this is ridiculous we are acting weak and as such invite more att 23:36  |  ralph 09/05/08
      45.   What Haaretz failed to report 23:36  |  ChanahS 09/05/08
      46.   Go now! 23:39  |  K 09/05/08
      47.   #36 Igor... I agree! 23:43  |  Dutch Dirk 09/05/08
      48.   Igor #36 00:11  |  Gee 10/05/08
      49.   Finally what Omert was waiting for 00:18  |  Sam C 10/05/08
      50.   pal will throw a street party to celebrate 00:19  |  Adrian de Klerk 10/05/08
      51.   Hamas has updated it`s c.s.k.s (civilian seeking kassams) 00:25  |  POP 10/05/08
      52.   #35 terrornator 00:30  |  MaryRose 10/05/08
      53.   Andreas #41, If the purpose of this site is to show that you are 00:41  |  Murray the Mongoose 10/05/08
      54.   # 37 Harold...what you see as fearless 01:02  |  Lynn 10/05/08
      55.   Igor the Ignoramus 36 01:27  |  ChanahS 10/05/08
      56.   Andreas 41 01:32  |  ChanahS 10/05/08
      57.   #41 - Andreas as a human shield... 01:36  |  SG 10/05/08
      58.   What goes around comes around 01:43  |  Sadiq M 10/05/08
      59.   to igor on #36 02:06  |  Shmuelshachor 10/05/08
      60.   #41 Amdreas = Basel 02:25  |  * BEN JABO 10/05/08
      61.   Give Kfar Aza police a couple of old 105mm recoiless rifles... 03:13  |  Dr. L. Brnd 10/05/08
      62.   Gee #40 03:23  |  Rowan 10/05/08
      63.   reply to Sadiq M, Tehran 03:40  |  Sam C 10/05/08
      64.   your absolutely right MaryRose # 51 but i still say 03:49  |  terrornator 10/05/08
      65.   #37 Fearless? More like feckless 03:50  |  MaryRose 10/05/08
      66.   sadiq m in iran my money is on iran cracking first 03:59  |  terrornator 10/05/08
      67.   60% of Israelis are `military targets` 04:09  |  Igor 10/05/08
      68.   That is better 05:33  |  Mark Lincoln 10/05/08
      69.   #67: 60% of Igor is Military Target 05:34  |  I 10/05/08
      70.   Igor! 0% of Arabs are military targets in Gaza 06:03  |  Murray the Mongoose 10/05/08