RAMALLAH/GAZA CITY, 18 January 2008 — Israeli airstrikes killed five Palestinians, including a mother and child, in the Gaza Strip yesterday as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to wage a “war” to stop rocket attacks on the Jewish state. The escalation in violence prompted Palestinian leaders to warn that renewed peace talks — spurred by last week’s visit by US President George W. Bush — were at stake.
In the latest bloodshed, an Israeli airstrike on a car in the Gaza Strip killed at least one Islamic Jihad fighter, as well as a mother and child riding in a donkey cart, Palestinian hospital officials said. An earlier airstrike killed a Palestinian group leader and his wife.
“A war is going on in the south, every day, every night,” Olmert said in a speech. “We cannot and will not tolerate this unceasing fire at Israeli citizens ... so we will continue to operate, with wisdom and daring, with the maximum precision that will enable us to hit those who want to attack us,” Olmert said, minutes after the airstrike.
“The most daring and boldest of our soldiers and members of the security services are taking part... This war will not stop,” the prime minister said, predicting Israeli military pressure would “tip the scales” and force a halt to rocket fire.
Olmert, saying Israel wanted to avoid harming Palestinian civilians, gave no indication he might order a large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip, an assault Israeli officials have cautioned could cause heavy casualties on both sides.
The administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the Israeli operations in Gaza and arrests of militants in the occupied West Bank as “a slap in the face” to efforts by Bush to achieve a peace treaty by year’s end. Abbas’ Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) issued a terse statement condemning Israeli military actions in Gaza and warning of “serious consequences” for the peace talks.
Yesterday’s airstrike, in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, set a car ablaze, killing the two people inside. The local leader in Al-Naser Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, and his wife were killed when the Israeli warplanes targeted his car while he was traveling near Sheikh Zayid city in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Medical sources said that two others were also wounded in the attack. Sources in Al-Naser Brigades said that one of its local leaders and his wife were killed in the Israeli air raid. They identified him as Read Abu El-Foul 45 and his wife Amina.
Witnesses and rescue workers said that the two were killed in the spot as their car was scattered and their bodies torn into pieces due to the heavy explosion. On Wednesday evening, two other Palestinians were also killed in an Israeli strike near Al-Burij refugee camp in the central of the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, Abu Mujahed the spokesman of Al-Naser Brigades the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees said that, two of the brigades members were killed in the air raid.
Meanwhile, the Israeli defense establishment yesterday test fired a missile at the Palmachim Air Force Base as part of future multilayered defense system designed to counter various aerial threats against Jewish state.
The Israeli Defense Ministry refused to provide details concerning the type of missile and the purpose it served, but said that the experiment tested the missile’s rocket propulsion system, and was successful.
“The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) has conducted a rocket propulsion test at Palmachim as part of its missile development program,” the defense establishment said. It added that in light of the satisfactory results, the military will review the new system’s incorporation in its various missiles.
According to Israeli sources, witnesses driving from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem reported seeing the missile take off in the distance and streak across the sky.
The defense establishment has begun pushing the development of its multilevel defense system, including, among others, the Iron Dome system, designed to fight the Palestinian homemade Qassam rockets.
The system also includes the use of Hetz missiles, designed to intercept surface-to-surface missiles. Palmachim is where the air force launches its various missiles, including the Arrow Missile Defense System and the Shavit satellite launcher.
According to foreign reports, Israel has ballistic missile capability, called the Jericho II, a solid-fuel, 2-stage ballistic missile system that has been test fired from the Palmachim air force base in the past.
According to those reports, the Jericho III has been in service since mid-2005, and can carry a payload of over 1,000 kilograms to a range of over 7,000 kilometers.
—With additional input from agencies
