Region | Palestinian Territories
Olmert vows to batter fighters
Fighters in Hamas-ruled Gaza bombarded southern Israel with rockets on Thursday and Israel pounded back with air and ground fire, killing a resistance leader and his wife, as the deepening violence pushed peace efforts to the sidelines. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to keep striking against what he called the "intolerable" assaults on southern Israel. Israel tallied at least 23 rockets and two mortars launched. One rocket slammed into the side of a house, slightly injuring two people, police said. Israeli struck back at northern Gaza from the air and ground, targeting rocket squads and areas militants frequently use to fire projectiles. A leader of the small, Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees, Raad Abu El Foul, and his wife, Amnah, were killed when a missile fired from the air hit their white sedan, the faction said.
- Reuters
- Published: 18:45 January 17, 2008
- Palestinians inspect a destroyed car after an Israeli air strike in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, yesterday.
- Image Credit: EPA
Gaza City: Fighters in Hamas-ruled Gaza bombarded southern Israel with rockets on Thursday and Israel pounded back with air and ground fire, killing a resistance leader and his wife, as the deepening violence pushed peace efforts to the sidelines.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to keep striking against what he called the "intolerable" assaults on southern Israel.
Twenty-five Palestinians, including the son of Gaza's Hamas strongman, have been killed since the violence escalated on Tuesday. Most were fighters.
A foreign volunteer on an Israeli border farm was also killed, by a Hamas sniper.
Hamas has intensified its direct involvement in the assaults on Israel since the clashes heated up. The group, which had let other resistance factions take the lead in attacking Israel since wresting control of Gaza in June, claimed it fired 36 rockets by late on Thursday afternoon, and a total of 150 since Tuesday.
Israel tallied 28 rockets and two mortars launched yesterday. One rocket slammed into the side of a house, slightly injuring two people, police said.
Israeli struck back at northern Gaza from the air and ground, targeting rocket squads and areas fighters frequently use to fire projectiles. A leader of the small, Hamas-allied Popular Resistance Committees, Ra'ad Abu Al Foul, and his wife, Amnah, were killed when a missile fired from the air hit their white sedan, the faction said.
The PRC swiftly vowed 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.
On Thursday, Olmert acknowledged there was "no magic formula" to stop the militant attacks, but said Israel would not stand for the relentless rocket fire.
"We will continue to fight the [Islamic] Jihad, Hamas and all their allies without compromise, without concessions and without mercy," he told a business conference in Tel Aviv.
Earlier in the week, however, Olmert suggested that Israel would not embark upon a broad military operation in the coastal strip. Past large-scale strikes against Gaza fighters have caused heavy Palestinian casualties without halting the rocket fire.
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