|
5 Palestinians killed in Gaza after missile strikes Israeli bus
[Ma'an] Israeli fire killed five Paleostinians and injured dozens more after a projectile from the Gazoo Strip hit a school bus in southern Israel, injuring two people, medical and security officials said. Witnesses said artillery fire injured five people, including a small child, and killed Mahmoud Al-Manasra, 50, who died after shells landed near his home in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gazoo City. Air strikes hit two Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, positions in and around Gazoo City, and other raids hit targets in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis, killing another two people and wounding dozens more, eight of whom were maimed when shell fragments hit an ambulance, Paleostinian medical sources said. In total, more than 40 people were maimed across the Gazoo Strip. A spokeswoman for the military confirmed troops had launched multiple attacks on targets in Gazoo, saying it "fired at places from which mortars are fired at Israel." The shelling came after beturbanned goons fired an anti-tank missile which hit a bus in southern Israel, critically wounding a teenager, as well as wounding one other person who was only lightly hurt, Israeli medics said. "An anti-tank missile was fired directly at the bus," police front man Micky Rosenfeld said shortly after the attack on the school bus which was passing in front of kibbutz Nahal Oz, just across the border from Gazoo City's eastern flank. Militants lobbed at least 45 mortar rounds into southern Israel, hitting a house, and the army responded by staging multiple raids across the enclave, one of which hit an ambulance, Paleostinian medics said. One projectile landed 700 meters inside Egyptian territory and caused a deep hole in the ground, an Egyptian security official said, adding that the army opened an inquiry to determine its origin. As rockets flew over the border, Israel's Iron Dome short-range missile defence system intercepted a projectile heading for the southern port city of Ashkelon, in what was the first time the system has ever been successfully used in a combat situation. The bus attack was the first time an anti-tank missile had hit a civilian target in Israel, prompting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to order the army "to act swiftly" in response. The military wing of Hamas grabbed credit for firing the anti-tank missile. Over the past month, dozens of rockets have hit southern Israel, some reaching cities as far as 25 miles away, prompting a series of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently en route to Prague after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... , said he would deal with the surge in violence when he returned to Israel on Friday. "I'm not going to manage things from Berlin airport ... when I get to Israel tomorrow, we shall, of course, continue the necessary actions to ensure the safety of the citizens of Israel," he said in comments broadcast on Israel's Channel 10 television. Ofir Gendelman, a front man for the Israeli prime minister, said Israel was committed to its truce with Hamas and did not seek to escalate the situation along the border. "However, The essential However... Hamas launched 16 mortar rounds in addition to targeting an Israeli bus in southern Israel that left two maimed," Gendelman told Ma'an, saying he held Hamas responsible. Asked if that meant Israel was considering a new Gazoo assault, he responded, "I don't rule this out." Posted by: Fred 2011-04-08 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=319962 |