 Three Islamic Jihad terrorists militants were killed yesterday in an Israel Air Force strike on the northern Gaza Strip while attempting to fire rockets into Israel, and another Palestinian terrorists= was seriously injured in the strike. Ten Palestinians terrorists have been killed in Israeli strikes in the past two weeks, which have seen dozens of rockets and mortar shells launched at Israel.
Israeli aircraft struck the terrorist militant cell around 7 P.M. last night. IDF officials told Haaretz the terrorists Jihad operatives were spotted while setting up rocket launchers east of the city of Dir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
One of the men killed was Awad Nasir, a 29-year-old resident of the city who was a senior terrorist commander of the Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's armed wing.
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It is possible the cell Nasir headed was operating independently, without direct orders from the terrorist organization's leadership. Hassan al-Qatarawi, 22, of Bureij refugee camp, and Hudhaifa al-Hams, 23, of Nuseirat refugee camp, both aides of Nasir, were also killed in the strike.
Several high-ranking IDF officers said they do not think Hamas is behind the recent rocket and mortar fire, although last week the Islamist group did downgrade efforts to prevent smaller, more radical terrorists factions from launching projectiles into Israel.
The IDF officers said it was difficult to predict the next phase of Israel's conflict with Hamas.
"We've seen in the past how confrontations have developed even if the major power holders have no interest in them," said one. "Hamas must know that Israel will respond to any aggression against it, and that if necessary, will know how to exact a price from the terrorists landlords in the Strip - the terrorist group's leadership."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting yesterday that the IDF is striking rocket manufacturing facilities in Gaza, as well as the smuggling tunnels by which Iranian weapons are reaching the territory. "The government's policy is clear: Every rocket on our soil will be met with force," he said.
Hamas sought to play down yesterday's air strike, giving it minimal space on its official Web site. However, a terrorist Hamas parliamentarian, Mushir al-Masri, said the strike showed Israel was seeking an escalation with the group, and that a Palestinian response was only a matter of time.
"The terrorists resistance will choose the time and place" for such a response, Masri said. "The Palestinian terrorists people will protect itself with all means and methods at its disposal."
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