ISRAEL:HAMAS MILITANTS yesterday fired rockets deeper into Israel than ever before, striking two homes in the city of Ashkelon, north of the Gaza Strip, as the conflict between the Islamic movement and Israel escalated further. Another 18 Palestinians, including five children, were killed yesterday in Israeli strikes on the strip.
Six rockets fired by militants from Gaza ploughed into the 120,000-strong coastal city of Ashkelon, some 10 kilometres from the Gaza border. Several dozen people were admitted to hospital suffering from shock, but there were no serious injuries.
With the strikes, Hamas proved that it now has the capacity to hit a major Israeli city and is prepared to do so. Although several rockets reached the southern regions of Ashkelon in the past, they all landed in open areas. Now militants have begun to use Grad-type rockets with a longer range - these can hit the more populated central and northern parts of the port city.
The more crude Qassam rockets, with a shorter range, continued to rain down yesterday on the southern town of Sderot. By evening, militants had fired some 19 rockets at the town, lightly injuring two people.
Defence minister Ehud Barak said Israel was "not afraid" to launch a large-scale ground incursion into Gaza. Most Israeli observers, though, said they doubted that the government was on the verge of such an operation.
In the deadliest Israeli strike, four children, including three from the same family, were killed in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. Witnesses said the children were playing soccer when a missile struck them. Another child injured in the strike died later in hospital of his wounds.
Most of the dead yesterday were militants, among them the son of Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas lawmaker. The Islamic group said he was the commander of a rocket-launching squad in northern Gaza.
Israeli military officials believe Hamas is trying to create a deterrent balance with Israel by responding with heavy rocket barrages to Israeli air-strikes in Gaza.