 |
 |
 |
|
|
A Palestinian terrorist from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, at an anti-Israel rally at Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. (AP)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Israel Insider staff and partners May 30, 2005 |
|
| |
The Israeli Air Force fired three missiles at a Qassam rocket-launching terror cell early Monday in the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City.
Israel Defense Forces officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said the IAF identified two teams of Palestinians setting up mortars. The missiles destroyed both launchers, they said. The officials would not comment on what kind of aircraft fired the missiles.
Palestinian sources reported the cell members escaped unharmed, but two passersby sustained moderate wounds.
The terrorist group Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying that a few minutes before the Israeli air strike, its cells launched three rockets from northern Gaza at an Israeli village just outside the territory. The Islamic Jihad said its cell was the target of the Israeli attack.
According to Israeli figures, more than 60 mortars and 10 homemade Qassam rockets have been fired in Gaza in the last two weeks.
Defense sources said Palestinian police officers have failed to take adequate action in recent days. "Even these days, when there is a certain calm, Israel reserves the right to protect its citizens and would do it in the future, as necessary," one Israeli army official said.
In the meantime, the IDF says it may reoccupy large chunks of the Gaza Strip and send troops into the center of Palestinian cities ahead of this summer's withdrawal from the coastal area, a senior Israeli official said Sunday.
If Palestinian security forces are unable or unwilling to prevent militants from firing on troops involved in the evacuation of Jewish settlements, Israeli defense forces will return to the cities next to the Israeli communities -- most specifically the Khan Younis town and refugee camp, said Giora Eiland, the head of Israel's National Security Council.
The decision whether to do so will be made days before the evacuation, scheduled to begin in mid-August, Eiland said. Soldiers are already trained and ready to take over the dense urban areas if necessary, he added.
Ideally, Israel would like the Palestinian security forces to secure their areas and ensure a peaceful evacuation, Eiland said, but Israel will not be able to risk having militants fire mortars or homemade rockets at the thousands of withdrawing troops and settlers, who are expected to be locked in conflict themselves.
On Sunday, three Palestinian terrorists were killed in two separate incidents in Gaza.
In the town of Khan Younis, Hamas member Takhsin Kalah, 27, died after a mortar shell he was preparing exploded. The man sustained critical injuries and died in the hospital several minutes later.
Shortly after the incident, two Palestinian men were killed and three others sustained serious injuries after a vehicle exploded in a Gaza neighborhood. The men were reportedly Hamas members, although other sources said they belonged to Fatah.
Palestinian officials first suspected the incident was an Israeli assassination, but security sources later said the explosion was "internal" -- likely a terrorist "work accident."
Earlier Sunday, IDF troops opened fire and killed a Palestinian who tried to stab them in the West Bank town of Hebron.
The Palestinian drew out a 12-centimeter knife as he was running toward the soldiers who were standing in a central junction in the town. The soldiers noticed the man and after firing warning shots, opened fire, killing him on the spot, an IDF spokesman said.
On another front, PA sources said another meeting is expected to take place this week between Palestinian Interior Minister Nasser Yusuf and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
In a previous meeting between the two figures, Mofaz expressed the government's disappointment over security plans presented by the Palestinians and demanded the PA confiscate weapons of terror suspects in cities previously transferred to Palestinian control.
The AP contributed to this report.
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
