ISRAELI JETS were continuing to target a number of positions including a Hamas military training facility in Gaza last night and Palestinian sources reported a number of people wounded in a second night of attacks on the coastal strip.
Aircraft had hit eight targets in Gaza overnight on Monday, including buildings housing Hamas operatives, arms depots and smuggling tunnels. A number of people were also hurt in those attacks.
An Israeli military spokesman said the raids were in response to the firing by Gaza militants of some 10 rockets and 30 mortars into southern Israel over the last two weeks. Israel’s top general, Lt Gen Gabi Ashkenazi, said yesterday the situation in the strip was “fragile and explosive”.
Yesterday afternoon an Israeli girl on her way to school was injured when a rocket fired from Gaza landed outside a kibbutz kindergarten. The Army of Islam claimed responsibility, saying the rocket attack was to avenge the killing of three of its members by Israeli forces last month.
The violence is the most serious since Israel’s 22-day offensive against militants in Gaza two years ago.
Lt Gen Ashkenazi said there were 112 militant attacks against Israeli troops on the Gaza border this year. In the same period, 60 Palestinian gunmen were killed.
He revealed that earlier this month Gaza militants had for the first time fired a Kornet anti-tank missile, which penetrated an Israeli tank but did not explode.
The introduction of the Kornet into the Gaza arena marks a significant increase in the military capability of Palestinian fighters, and follows ongoing warnings from Israeli intelligence officials that militants have been smuggling more sophisticated weaponry into the strip via tunnels along the Egyptian border.
Hizbullah fighters used Kornet missiles, reportedly supplied by Syria, to destroy Israeli Merkava tanks during the second Lebanon war in 2006.
Israel holds Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority in 2007, responsible for all attacks from the strip, even if they are carried out by smaller militant factions.
Despite the surge in violence the assessment of Israeli military sources was that Hamas will not seek an all-out conflict at this juncture. The sources explained that the recent attacks were due to Hamas frustration over the lack of progress on a prisoner swap deal with Israel, and stalled reconciliation talks with Fatah.