Region | Palestinian Territories
Israel threatens to retaliate after rocket hits Ashkelon
A rocket launched from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip struck the Israeli port city of Ashkelon yesterday, officials said, causing no casualties but prompting Israel to threaten retaliation with "great force".
- Reuters
- Published: 23:03 February 3, 2009
Occupied Jerusalem: A rocket launched from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip struck the Israeli port city of Ashkelon yesterday, officials said, causing no casualties but prompting Israel to threaten retaliation with "great force".
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack from Palestinian armed factions in the Gaza Strip, still reeling from a 22-day Israeli offensive that the Jewish state said was aimed at ending rocket salvoes.
Egypt, which also borders the Gaza Strip, has been trying with US backing to broker a long-term truce which would end Palestinian arms smuggling and also lead to a re-opening of the coastal enclave's border crossings, one of Hamas's key demands.
Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin told Israel Radio that a Grad rocket "struck the heart of a residential neighbourhood".
"Luckily, it landed in an open area," he said.
The Gaza assault ended with both sides separately saying on January 18 they would hold fire.
There has been occasional rocket and mortar shelling since, as well as a bomb blast that killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza border. Fighters said they were responding to Israeli fire.
In the surge of violence, Israel has carried out air strikes but held back from a renewed ground offensive. In all, three Palestinian civilians and a gunman have been killed since the ceasefire went into effect.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government blamed Hamas for the violence, though the Islamist group has claimed responsibility for none of the attacks since the truce.
"Hamas is playing with fire, and if there is going to be an escalation now, Hamas has no one to blame but itself," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said after the attack on Ashkelon. "Hamas has acted to deliberately undermine the calm."
The flare-ups have shown faultlines in Israel's coalition government ahead of an election to replace Olmert next week.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a centrist candidate, has demanded tougher retaliation by Israel. Her rival, centre-left Defence Minister Ehud Barak, has spoken against launching a new offensive. Both are overshadowed in pre-election polls by hawkish opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli media have suggested that any new reprisals could include the assassination of Hamas leaders, several of which went to ground during the Gaza offensive and are yet to emerge.
"Deterrence must now be achieved vis-a-vis Hamas, and deterrence is achieved through force, and great force," Livni told Army Radio after holding closed-door security consultations with Olmert and Barak.
Responding to Egypt's mediation, Hamas said on Monday it would be prepared to halt hostilities for a year if a deal could be reached on lifting Israel's crippling blockade of Gaza.
A Hamas official said a delegation from the group planned to meet Egyptian mediators in Cairo yesterday to deliver its response to truce proposals. Ashkelon is 12km from coastal Gaza, beyond the reach of the improvised rockets often fired by the Palestinians.
Factory-produced Grads, which are smuggled into Gaza through tunnels or by sea from neighbouring Egypt, have a longer reach.
"To the best of my knowledge, when it's a Grad rocket, it's from Hamas," Vaknin said.
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