GAZA CITY, 28 December 2006 — Threatening to send a shaky, month-old truce into total collapse, Israel yesterday decided to renew attacks against Gaza, saying they were targeted at Palestinian rocket-launching cells.
The decision came hours after a rocket seriously wounded two Israeli teenage boys in Sderot, a town in southern Israel next to the Gaza border. Shortly after the new policy was announced, a rocket was launched from Gaza, but no injuries were reported.
Although Israel declared it remained committed to the truce, the decision to strike against rocket launchers clearly ratcheted up the violence level.
It could also undermine Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s recent efforts to bolster the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who is in a face-off against Hamas. The Islamist group controls the Palestinian Parliament and Cabinet.
“The defense establishment has been instructed to take pinpoint action against the rocket-launching cells,” Olmert’s office said after a morning meeting of senior officials. “At the same time, Israel will continue to abide by the cease-fire.”
Palestinian fighters violated the truce within an hour after it took effect on Nov. 26. Since then, more than 60 rockets have been fired at southern Israel, the army said.
Israel has so far refrained from responding, but Olmert had warned in recent days that his patience was wearing thin. The injuries of the two boys late Tuesday increased the already intense pressure on Olmert from political opponents and members of his Cabinet to take action.
Hamas government spokeswoman Ghazi Hamad denounced the Israeli decision to “continue their aggression against our people,” but added: “We still believe that this agreement is alive, and both sides should respect this agreement because it is (in) the interest (of) our people.”
The truce put an end to five months of deadly fighting that followed an attack by Hamas-linked gunmen on an Israeli Army post just outside Gaza. Two soldiers were killed and another was captured in that raid, and Israel retaliated by sending ground troops, artillery and aircraft to strike at fighters and their rocket squads.
But the incursions failed to stop the rocket fire or win the release of the soldier. When Abbas, who favors peace talks, persuaded fighter factions to agree to a truce, Olmert agreed to pull Israeli forces out of Gaza.
Meanwhile, President Abbas said in Cairo yesterday that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Middle East next month, adding he would discuss with her the idea of a “back channel” for negotiations with Israel.
Rice last visited the region in late November and held talks with Abbas and Olmert. The US administration has since welcomed Abbas’ calls for early Palestinian polls and Rice said it also planned to ask Congress for funds to support his security forces. Abbas, addressing a news conference after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, said: “I discussed the upcoming steps with the president, especially that Dr. Rice is coming here on the 13th and 14th (of January).”
— With input from agencies
