IDF artillery strikes Qassam launching zones in Gaza Strip

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday night stepped up its retaliatory measures against Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip into Israel when firing several salvos of artillery shells on rocket launching zones in the Strip.

Earlier on Friday, a Qassam rocket landed near the security fence along the northern Gaza border, causing no casualties or damage. The IDF reported its artillery units fired ten salvos of shells into the suspected launching zones during Sunday evening.

Sources in the IDF said the fire was decided on "because the Palestinians must understand that we will not tolerate rocket fire."

"Our response will be exaggerated and disproportionate to the [Palestinian] fire," a senior source in the IDF recently said. The IDF's response would strengthen of the rocket fire continued, the source said.

State: Sonic booms to 'confuse' terroristsIsrael Air Force warplanes break the sound barrier over the Gaza Strip in order to confuse terrorists, the state told the High Court of Justice on Sunday.

The sonic booms are intended to "disrupt terror activities, engender fear among terrorists planning to attempt to fire rockets, deceive, create disinformation and a sense of threat and confusion among terrorists concerning the extent of IDF operations - their nature and specific locations," the state prosecutor said in response to a petition filed against the sonic booms by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Gaza Community Mental Health Program two weeks ago.

IAF warplanes set off sonic booms over Gaza at all hours of the day and night, though they refrain from supersonic flights over Israel.

The head of the Gaza group, Dr. Eyad Sarraj, a psychiatrist, wrote in a medical opinion that the sonic booms have serious effects on Gaza children, including anxiety, panic, fear, poor concentration and low academic success, according to a statement. He also said that the number of miscarriages increases during periods of frequent sonic booms.

Israel has long used sonic booms to rattle Palestinians in times of tension and violence, maintaining the practice since its pullout from Gaza in September. The booms can be mistaken for one of the frequent missile attacks aimed at militants or weapons factories.

In the statement, the two groups said that according to international law, "the booms are collective punishment against the civilian population and thus illegal.

However, Yuval Roitman of the prosecutor's office said, "the influence sonic booms have on the civilian population is an influence that accompanies military actions to prevent Qassam rocket attacks and it is legitimate according to international law."

The prosecutor also noted that the IAF avoids low-altitude supersonic flights and said that every decision to generate sonic booms is subject to the authorization of IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

As IAF commander in 2001, Halutz forbid flights that might cause sonic booms over Israel.