Lucky once - consequences should smash them Palestinian gunners have succeeded in striking Israeli strategic sites with indigenous missiles.
Officials said military and police commanders have concluded that Palestinian insurgents based in the Gaza Strip seek to destroy the Rutenberg power station south of Ashkelon. The commanders said insurgency groups such as Islamic Jihad and Fatah have been firing Kassam-class, short-range missiles supplied by Hamas to knock out the second largest electricity generator in the country.
Rutenberg supplies about 25 percent of the electricity needs of Israel. On March 3, at least one Kassam missile struck the facility but did not cause significant damage.
"The missile strike was a major achievement for the terrorists," an official said. "They now know they could strike strategic sites around Ashkelon and this is all they will be focusing on."
Islamic Jihad has used weapons based on the Hamas-designed Kassam-class short-range missile to strike Israeli strategic facilities in the Ashkelon area. The facilities include an oil terminal, power station, water desalination facility and port.
Ashkelon also contains an oil terminal with pipelines that link to the Israeli ports of Eilat, Ashdod and Haifa. The industrial zone south of the city also houses a seawater reverse osmosis plant designed to desalinate 100 million cubic meters of water per year, or 15 percent of the nation's demands. On March 3, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a Kassam missile attack that struck an unidentified strategic facility south of Ashkelon. An Israeli employee was injured and the facility was slightly damaged.
Israeli sources said that for the first time the Kassam landed in the facility. They said the employees were ordered to enter a bunker.
Islamic Jihad has reported the development and production of extended-range Kassam-class missiles. A statement in February said Jihad's new missile, termed Quds 101, contained a TNT warhead and could reach a distance of between 13 and 16 kilometers. The missile was said to measure 2.3 meters.
But Israeli officials said the latest Palestinian missiles do not contain significant enhancements. They said the main difference was that the new missiles were better constructed.
"We do not see any change in the Kassam rockets fired at the area, compared to the previous rockets, neither in their range nor in their capabilities," Col. Efraim Mor, commander of the regional police, said.
Officials said the Kassams that struck the Ashkelon area were fired from the northern Gaza Strip. They acknowledged that Israeli artillery retaliation has been ineffective.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has held discussions with military commanders on the Kassam threat to the Ashkelon area. Officials said the commanders raised the prospect that a missile could knock out the power station, which supplies about a quarter of the nation's electricity.
Other scenarios discussed was a Kassam strike that could damage the oil pipelines that link Ashkelon with the Israeli ports of Eilat, Ashdod and Haifa. Ashkelon also contains a seawater reverse osmosis plant designed to desalinate 100 million cubic meters of water per year, or 15 percent of the nation's demands. Initial operations began in August 2005.