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Israel launches air strikes against gaza palestinians { May 18 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/19/mideast.violence/http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/05/19/mideast.violence/
May 18, 2005
Israel Launches Air Strike Against Palestinian Cell in Gaza
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, May 18 - In Israel's first air strike since a truce was announced three months ago, the air force fired today on a Palestinian cell launching mortars at Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip.
The air strike came in one of two separate shooting exchanges in southern Gaza that left one Palestinian militant dead, several wounded and one Israeli civilian lightly injured, the two sides said.
Today's events reflected the fragile nature of a truce that has greatly reduced the overall level of violence since February, but which has not silenced the guns.
"The Palestinian Authority is continually refusing to take the necessary steps to prevent terror against Israel," said David Baker, an official in the office of Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon. "If this continues, Israel will be compelled to take whatever steps it deems necessary to protect its citizens."
Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman in Gaza for the Islamic faction Hamas, said: "What is happening is a dangerous Israeli escalation. I think the Palestinian people will not stay silent."
Israel, which plans to evacuate nearly 9,000 settlers from Gaza beginning in August, is concerned that an increase in violence will greatly complicate the pullout. Meanwhile, Hamas, which was involved in both of today's shootings, has generally been observing the truce.
The trouble today began before dawn when Palestinians fired anti-tank rockets and automatic rifles at Israelis soldiers along Gaza's border with Egypt, prompting return fire from the soldiers, the Israeli military said.
A Hamas militant was killed by an Israeli explosive device, according to Palestinians in the border town of Rafah. But the Israeli military said soldiers had fired only bullets, not explosives, and believed the Hamas man had been killed by an explosive he was carrying that detonated prematurely.
This afternoon Hamas began firing mortars at Gush Katif, the largest Jewish settlement bloc in Gaza.
An Israeli aircraft spotted a group preparing to fire, and unleashed a missile that injured several militants, one critically, according to the military and Palestinians. Israel did not say what type of aircraft was used, but helicopters and unmanned drones have both been employed in similar strikes in the past.
Despite the air strike, the mortar fire continued, lightly wounding one Israeli and damaging a greenhouse, the military said, adding that Palestinians fired more than a dozen mortars and two rockets.
Palestinians have launched thousands of mortars at the Gaza settlements in recent years. The attacks largely stopped when the truce was announced in February, though the armed factions have unleashed brief periods of mortar fire following the deaths of Palestinians.
For the past three months, Israel's military has largely ignored the mortar attacks, a move that has drawn criticism from the Jewish settlers who are targeted. Today's air strike was the first since the truce.
In the more than three months since the truce was announced, 6 Israelis and 20 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group.
In more than four years fighting before the truce, Israelis were killed at a rate of nearly 20 a month, while more than 60 Palestinians were killed each month on average.
Meanwhile, Mr. Sharon's government is stepping up efforts to persuade the Gaza settlers to leave voluntarily. While the vast majority oppose the evacuation, there are signs that some are starting to make plans to leave.
At a government meeting today on the evacuation, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said more than 400 families had signed up for a proposal that would move them as a group to Nitzanim, a coastal area just a few miles north of Gaza.
But settler leaders have disputed the figure, saying it is far smaller.
"Time is very short and the settlers must understand that if they don't give us a green light very soon, we will be unable to put these solutions at their disposal," Ms. Livni said.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian parliament approved a new election law that should pave the way for balloting to be held as scheduled on July 17. The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who is traveling in Asia, must still approve the measure, but he has said he wants the elections held as planned.
Also, a Palestinian court ordered another round of voting in parts of Rafah, citing irregularities in municipal elections on May 5.
Hamas won 12 of the 15 town council seats in Rafah and made a strong showing in the local elections throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
Mr. Abbas's Fatah movement won more municipalities over all, but Hamas is expected to present a major challenge to Fatah's traditional dominance in the next round of local elections, as well as the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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