50 rockets launched from Gaza into Israel, eight wounded

March 20, 2011

ckets-launched-from-Gaza-into-Israel-eight-wounded

Mar 19, 2011, 11:12 GMT

Gaza City - Violence between Israel and militants of the Islamist Hamas movement

flared on Saturday after nearly 50 mortar shells from the Gaza Strip landed in

southern Israeli communities.

Israeli warplanes and tanks responded, firing missiles and tank shells at four

targets belonging to Hamas in the eastern Gaza Strip, Adham Abu Selmeya, Gaza's

emergency chief, told reporters.

Selmeya confirmed that six Palestinian were wounded in the Israeli attack, while

Israel Radio reported two Israelis injured. The two main Israelis towns hit in

the attack were Sdot Negev and Eshkol.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' armed wing, claimed responsibility for the

renewed shelling.

'Targeting the enemy's posts was a response to the ongoing Zionist assaults,

airstrikes and tank's shelling on the Gaza Strip. The latest was two days ago,

where two of our mujahidin were killed,' said the group.

Israeli jets struck four lookout posts belonging to the security forces of the

Hamas administration, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June 2007. Residents

in the Strip heard dozens of explosions resulting from the Israeli bombardment.

Several ambulances and rescue teams were seen rushing to the targeted areas

between the eastern borders of the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reacted immediately, asking the

Israeli envoy to the UN to file an official complaint to the Security Council.

'The offensive this morning, which took place while Hamas is speaking about

reunification, shows that the international support for the creation of a

Palestinian state would be support for the creation of a terror state,'

Lieberman said in a written message to the UN.

The 'first and foremost goal is the destruction of Israel,' Lieberman wrote in

his request to file a complaint.

Ten other mortar shells were launched from Gaza into Israel on Friday, four of

them landed in Palestinian territories.

An undeclared fragile ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas in January

2009, following a three-week large-scale Israeli offensive on the enclave, in

which more than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

The escalation of violence mounted as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

announced two days ago that he intends to go to Gaza to end more than three

years of internal division between his Fatah party and Hamas movement.

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