Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., February 06, 2008 Shvat 30, 5768 | | Israel Time: 09:25 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
  Back to Homepage
Rosner's Domain
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Advertising
Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File
A Sderot home hit by a Qassam rocket. (Limor Edrey)
Last update - 06:10 18/01/2008
IAF strikes kill seven in Gaza; 40 Qassams fired at Israel
By Amos Harel, Mijal Grinberg, Avi Issacharoff and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, and News Agencies
Tags: Gaza, Qassams, Hamas, Israel

The Israel Air Force killed at least seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in three separate air strikes Thursday, as Gaza militants pounded southern Israel with Qassam rocket fire for a third straight day, lightly wounding four people.

Late Thursday, an IAF strike killed at least two Hamas militants and wounded three others, Hamas security sources and Palestinian medical workers said.

The attack came hours after an IAF strike on a car in northern Gaza killed three Palestinians, including two civilians. The IDF confirmed the strike, saying it targeted a group of militants shortly after they fired rockets at Israel.
Advertisement
Palestinian sources said an Islamic Jihad militant was killed along with a mother and child who were riding in a donkey cart next to the militants' car. An additional Islamic Jihad man was critically wounded in the strike.

In the first air strike, Raed Abu el-Foul, a senior militant in the Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees, and his wife were killed when a missile fired from the air hit their white sedan in northern Gaza, Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza health ministry said.

Two other Palestinians were wounded in the air strike, Palestinian officials said. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the strike.

The PRC pledged retaliation. "Sooner or later, [we] will, by God, avenge every drop of blood shed, and the response will be equal to the crime," the group said in a statement.

Four Israelis wounded as Qassam rockets continue to rain on Negev

Meanwhile, militants in the Gaza Strip on Thursday fired more than 40 Qassam rockets and two mortar shells at southern Israel, wounding four people.

Two Israelis were lightly hurt on Thursday when a rocket slammed into a Sderot intersection, damaging cars. The injured were both taken to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon for treatment. Five other people were treated for shock.

Later Thursday, two women were lightly wounded in additional rocket strikes on Sderot. One of the woman was hurt when she fell down the stairs while running for cover.

Earlier, a rocket hit the Sapir College campus in Sderot. One woman was treated for shock.

One of the rockets hit the Negev town of Sderot, causing damage to a house but no injuries. Another rocket hit a factory, damaging cars. Five rockets struck in the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council and in open fields the area. A rocket also hit near the Kibbutz Nir Am cafeteria.

According to the IDF, 118 Qassam rockets and 62 mortar shells have been fired at Israel since fighting escalated Tuesday.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Thursday that Israel would continue to fight Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip as long as the rocket fire on southern Israel continued.

The fighting came a day after IAF strikes killed five Palestinians, three of them civilians, and Gaza militants launched close to 50 Qassam rockets at the western Negev.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for part of the barrage, saying it was in response to Wednesday's killing of the group's top West Bank commander during an Israel Defense Forces operation near Jenin.

On Tuesday, at least 19 Palestinians were killed, including 15 militants, in IDF air and ground operations in the coastal territory.

Also Tuesday, at least 10 people were hurt when Palestinian militants launched a barrage of Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Israel in a day of fierce fighting in Gaza.

Related articles:
  • IDF soldiers kill Islamic Jihad's top commander in West Bank
  • News / IDF kills at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza raids
  • Exiled Hamas leader says Bush 'incited the Zionists' to raid Gaza
  • ANALYSIS / Despite raid, Hamas, Israel don't seek escalation
  • State: Israeli residents' endurance to rocket fire must be enhanced
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Prayer change
    Pope Benedict XVI nixes a reference to Jews` `blindness` over Jesus in a Catholic prayer.
    Blind and deaf in Jaffa
    'The world's first professional deaf-blind theatre company' takes center stage in Jaffa.
      1.   Hamas did this for years! 02:35  |  Fritz Teich 17/01/08
      2.   Israel deserves to defend against these terroristic attacks 02:38  |  Theodor 17/01/08
      3.   While Hamas continues to threaten more violence.. 02:45  |  Avi 17/01/08
      4.   generally speaking weak do not attack strong 02:50  |  bozhidarevski 17/01/08
      5.   what kind of self-defeating strategy, comment is this. 03:02  |  ralph 17/01/08
      6.   what kind of self-defeating strategy, comment is this. 03:02  |  ralph 17/01/08
      7.   Kussala Ukhtek Political Leadership to NO intensify retaliation 03:02  |  Joseph E . 17/01/08
      8.   Hamas Must Escalate Attacks 03:06  |  Joseph E . 17/01/08
      9.   So the rockets have worked! 03:35  |  lakshmi 17/01/08
      10.   bozhidarevski 03:56  |  Brad 17/01/08
      11.   Enough of your crimes! the world wants peace 03:59  |  nobodysacred 17/01/08
      12.   hit back 04:27  |  joseph 17/01/08
      13.   stalemate 04:27  |  Paul Freedman 17/01/08
      14.   Pathetic Israelis 04:41  |  Rick 17/01/08
      15.   Defeatist idiocy with Olmert`s name written all over it 04:49  |  Dr. L. Brnd 17/01/08
      16.   No more mercy for Gaza 04:53  |  florida gator 17/01/08
      17.   And exactly what did Hamas offer over a month ago? 05:07  |  Mark Lincoln 17/01/08
      18.   bozhidarevski 05:08  |  Judith 17/01/08
      19.   Bozhidavarski - no you idiot 05:10  |  Mark Lincoln 17/01/08
      20.   Ron Arad 05:10  |  rozz 17/01/08
      21.   Surprisingly pro-Israel article 05:26  |  B 17/01/08
      22.   5 Lakshmi Yes the Rockets worked to provoke IDF attacks. 05:52  |  I 17/01/08
      23.   Gaza`s rockets 06:01  |  Edifice 17/01/08
      24.   This is SHAMEFUL 06:27  |  Andrew 17/01/08
      25.   Hamas Rebel Terrorists 06:55  |  Bob 17/01/08
      26.   HAMAS DOESN`T NEED TO PROVE ANYTHING 06:58  |  indrajaya 17/01/08
      27.   HAMAS DOESN`T NEED TO PROVE ANYTHING 06:58  |  indrajaya 17/01/08
      28.   If Hamas shows restrain...oh, we`re so afraid... 07:09  |  Giora 17/01/08
      29.   Finally, Some Common Sense 07:10  |  DoubleClick 17/01/08
      30.   Fascinating information 07:20  |  idf_sergeant 17/01/08
      31.   #13 Mark Lincolin you surprise me! 07:44  |  Dr. Herb Zelligman 17/01/08
      32.   Really ?? Someone is out of touch with reality --Haaretz sure 07:46  |  Sal 17/01/08
      33.   no. 19, Ron Arad 07:47  |  Sam 17/01/08
      34.   HAMAS 07:50  |  Commonsense 17/01/08
      35.   no. 19, Ron Arad 07:52  |  Sam 17/01/08
      36.   #18 Opression and humanity 07:55  |  Oddvark 17/01/08
      37.   What part of stop the rockets don`t they understand? 08:09  |  Dan 17/01/08
      38.   what biassedness towards israel 08:15  |  NOYB 17/01/08
      39.   Mark Lincoln, are you a Hamas fan now? 08:16  |  perplexed 17/01/08
      40.   Rozz, Ron Arad explained 08:22  |  Wendy Whitman 17/01/08
      41.   NOYB: did the little girl shoot Qassams and send suicide bombers? 08:35  |  Dan 17/01/08
      42.   #30 idf_sergeant - sergeant of the most moral army in the world 08:44  |  Pablo B 17/01/08
      43.   This is the "MIGHTY IDF"... ?!??!!? PATHETIC !!!!! 08:50  |  amir 17/01/08
      44.   #33 perplexed is clueless about the reality in Gaza 09:04  |  Pablo B 17/01/08
      45.   To Andrew from NY 09:05  |  Boris 17/01/08
      46.   The Natural Result 09:29  |  Clickfool 17/01/08
      47.   Dr.Bard ( #15) - Spot On 09:29  |  Tod Zuckerman 17/01/08
      48.   For Perplexed # 39 09:31  |  Clickfool 17/01/08
      49.   This story is far from over 09:32  |  Natallie Durson 17/01/08
      50.   For Theodore # 2 09:36  |  Clickfool 17/01/08
      51.   Is Islam a religion of Peace? 09:40  |  Sam 17/01/08
      52.   The technology of Qassams has improved 09:41  |  Clickfool 17/01/08
      53.   #39 You don`t need to LIKE them to see the dynamics, perplexed 09:45  |  Johnboy 17/01/08
      54.   Israelk capitulating again,one can`t but to have contempt for its 09:50  |  Absolute Sweden 17/01/08
      55.   INDRAYA HAMAS does not have to prove anything.ALL in the Charter 09:53  |  PETER SM 17/01/08
      56.   nobodysacred 10:00  |  Iz Ray Leigh 17/01/08
      57.   NOBODYSACRED"ENOUGH"exactly stop Islamist murders&imperialism 10:01  |  PETER SM 17/01/08
      58.   Mark Lincoln battling through the mud in his mouth 10:01  |  Iz Ray Leigh 17/01/08
      59.   #30 Fascinating opinion from the idf_sergeant 10:02  |  Johnboy 17/01/08
      60.   Rozz ask google instead 10:02  |  yahoo 17/01/08
      61.   Message 45 10:07  |  Noffo 17/01/08
      62.   Our irresponsible government 10:09  |  Proud Israeli 17/01/08
      63.   Watch Out. Clickfool #46 Is Fake Clickfool 10:21  |  Clickfool 17/01/08
      64.   MARK LINCOLN See for yourself what Hamas offered a month ago 10:24  |  PETER SM 17/01/08
      65.   HOME MADE BREAKFESTS :) GOODDD MORNING :) 10:26  |  ATİLLA KARAGÖZOĞLU 17/01/08
      66.   A slavering, hand-rubbing, bloodthirsty Zionist writes # 15 10:30  |  Clickfool 17/01/08
      67.   Islam is the source of all evil Israel is facing 10:30  |  Johnny 17/01/08
      68.   Yep, time to re-evaluate our strategy 10:31  |  Tzfonit 17/01/08
      69.   What a waste! 10:31  |  Fairplay 17/01/08
      70.