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Could the southern city of Ashkelon, home to 120,000 Israelis, be the next target of rocket-launchers in Gaza? (file)
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| By israelinsider staff May 22, 2007 |
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Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh warned Monday that if Gaza terror groups achieve in launching longer range rockets capable of hitting cities like Ashkelon, home to 120,000, Israel must be prepared to consider increasing military action in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas officials Monday stated that Ashkelon would be next, saying that the group had succeeded in developing rockets capable of hitting the southern city.
"We call on our fighters to launch rockets attacks on the settlement of Ashkelon, which was built on Palestinian-owned land. We will force the settlers to run away from Ashkelon as they have already done in the settlement of Sderot. We will continue to fight until the Jews leave all of Palestine," stated a Hamas official in the Jabalya refugee camp.
"We will turn Ashkelon into a ghost city," he said. "We will use all methods against the Zionist enemy."
These threats and Sneh's warning come amid concerns by government officials that Israel's efforts to target Hamas leadership could lead to attacks with longer-range rockets, creating more damage than Qassams, within a 25 km. radius of Gaza and capable of hitting southern cities like Beersheba and Ashdod.
"We are getting ready for the possibly that the range will increase," said Sneh in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. "They can increase the range and we need to be ready."
According to the Jerusalem Post, defense officials have said that terrorists have succeeded in smuggling long-range rockets from Egypt into Gaza through border tunnels, and that Islamic Jihad has a small number of out-of-date Grad-model Katyushas. The group has not yet fired the rockets at their maximum distance, which is 25 km.
Defense officials are also concerned that Hamas and Islamic Jihad have successfully furthered the range of their Qassams to 15 km or possibly farther.
"They are always working to improve rockets and to extend their range," stated a senior defense official. "If they're not disturbed, with enough time they will eventually succeed."
As the Qassam barrages continue, leaving one Sderot woman dead on Monday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to issue threats of suicide attacks and urge Palestinians to kill IDF soldiers in Gaza, as well as soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.
The groups pledged to continue rocket attacks "until the Zionists flee from Palestine" and that Gaza would become a "graveyard" for IDF soldiers if Israel decided to invade.
"We will make the Jews drip tears of blood. We will never find comfort until we shed the blood of the sons of monkeys and pigs," stated Muhammad Abdel Al, a commander of the Popular Resistance Committees, in which many Gaza terror groups are allied.
According to Sneh, Iran is behind the Qassam attacks and current situation in Gaza, financing training and weapons in an effort to divert the world's attention from its nuclear plans.
In response to concerns over Israel's south, the IDF Home Front Command distributed pamphlets to southern towns Monday, informing residents on the steps to be taken in the instance of a rocket attack. The government also started to address the problem of providing shelters and secure rooms to the area, as police prepare for possible attack situations.
In the case of Ashkelon, the city will be receiving NIS 3 million to help maintain it's approximately 120 public bomb shelters, though according to municipality spokeswoman Anat Berkovitz, "Home Front Command found that in case of Qassam attacks, fortified areas will be needed more than bomb shelters."
Also, the government has not yet activated the early-warning Qassam system, as present in Sderot, in Ashkelon. |
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