JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave the army free rein Wednesday in its response to repeated mortar and rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, public radio reported. The premier's comments, made during a meeting with the army's most senior officers, come after a recent sharp increase in attacks on Jewish settlements in southern Gaza which are due to be evacuated by next September. | "Weapons free, fire for effect" |
Fourteen Palestinians were killed earlier this month during an Israeli operation in the Khan Yunis area specifically to stop the attacks, which have continued unabated. At least 10 Palestinians were wounded when Israeli tanks fired shells into the heavily populated Khan Yunis refugee camp Tuesday in response to continued mortar attacks on Jewish settlers living nearby. A 13-year-old boy and a girl aged about 10 were among those injured by the shelling, which the Israeli military said was aimed at the source of mortar fire on the Gush Khatif settlement bloc.
The mortar attacks and subsequent shelling by troops manning a post by the settlement of Neve Dekalim came several hours after a failed Israeli air strike on a car carrying two Palestinian militants in the same area. The car was targetted by a drone that fired a single rocket on the car in the Khan Yunis region of the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said. Palestinian security sources said both men who fled the strike on foot were members of the radical Islamic Jihad movement.
Israeli security sources confirmed the strike, saying their target had been militants behind the firing of mortars which have become increasingly frequent in recent days. "The IAF (Israeli air force) spotted and targetted a vehicle carrying a terror cell responsible for the mortar shell attacks from Khan Yunis," one source told AFP on condition of anonymity. |