Rocket fired into Israel mall

2008-05-14 21:00

Ashkelon - A rocket fired by Gaza militants slammed into a shopping mall in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Wednesday, wounding at least 14 people, as US President George W Bush began a three-day visit to the Jewish state.

Three of the wounded were in a serious condition, one of them a young girl, emergency services said. Two babies were also hurt.

"They hit a shopping mall in the centre of Ashkelon," police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said, denying reports people were still trapped in the rubble.

Ben Cohen, who works at a restaurant in the mall, said the explosion struck the third floor of the building, and other witnesses said part of the building collapsed.

"There were a lot of people and the centre emptied rapidly," Cohen told reporters.

The attack came as Bush was in Jerusalem at the start of a visit to join celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state.

Palestinians were simultaneously commemorating what they call the Naqba, or catastrophe - the exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees on the creation of Israel.

Hamas 'not interested in peace'

The White House swiftly condemned the attack on Ashkelon and accused the Islamist Hamas movement, which seized control of Gaza last June, of "not being interested in peace".

"We condemn this terrorist attack by Hamas and offer our condolences to those who were affected," said national security spokesperson Gordon Johndroe.

It was the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees and the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) that claimed responsibility for the attack, in separate statements.

In their statement to Gaza media, the armed wing of the PRC said it had photographed the launch of what it called an "advanced missile".

The Islamist Hamas movement, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June, and the Islamic Jihad movement, which launches frequent rocket attacks from the territory, praised the attack but did not claim it.

Shortly before the attack, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert emerged from his talks with the US president saying "Israel will not be able to tolerate continuous attacks against innocent civilians".

467 people killed

He also said Israel holds Hamas responsible for any attack launched from Gaza, and warned: "We hope that we will not have to act against Hamas with the military power that Israel has in its pocket."

Earlier in the day four Palestinians were killed in Israeli military raids in Gaza, and Israel has threatened a wider operation against the Hamas-run territory if the rocket attacks continue.

At least 467 people have been killed since Israel and the Palestinians re-launched formal peace talks at a US-hosted conference in November, the vast majority of them Gaza militants, according to an AFP count.

- AFP