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Rocket hits Israeli base
11/09/2007 11:00 - (SA)
Jerusalem - Fifty-seven Israeli soldiers were wounded on Tuesday by a rocket fired into a military base by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, a military spokesperson and medics said.
The strike, the most bloody for months, was likely to add further pressure on the Israeli government to find a way to end the incessant rocket attacks.
The rocket slammed a tent in the centre of the Zikim military base located north of the Gaza Strip, wounding soldiers sleeping in other tents pitched nearby, said the spokesperson.
Thirty-nine of the soldiers suffered light wounds, with those suffering more serious injuries transported to numerous hospitals by helicopter and ambulances, he added.
The Al-Qods Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed the attack in a statment released in Gaza.
The group, which has been responsible for most of the rocket attacks from Gaza in recent months, said it would hold a news conference in Gaza City later in the day.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned last week that Israel would "without hesitation and without pity" launch counterstrikes against militants who fire rockets from the Gaza Strip, which has been under the control of the Islamist militant group Hamas since June.
Militants in Gaza regularly fire rockets and mortar rounds at Israel and while most fall in open spaces, some strike populated areas and have occasionally caused casualties.
Israel has been unable to stamp out the rocket fire from Gaza, despite launching pinpoint air strikes and regular incursions into the crowded and impoverished territory from where it withdrew settlers and soldiers in 2005 after a 38-year presence.
Last week Olmert ordered the army to draw up plans to curb the rocket fire, but held back from endorsing water and power cuts on Gaza's beleaguered population.
Pressure on Olmert to respond to the incessant rocket fire against southern Israel has mounted in recent days after a projectile struck outside a daycare centre in the hard-hit town of Sderot a day after the start of the school year, causing no casualties but sparking widespread panic.
"The cabinet decided to continue the intensive military operations against those involved in terror and rocket launching," Olmert's office said last week after a government meeting on the rocket attacks.
The cabinet decided for the time being to not impose punitive measures against the impoverished population of Gaza, such as cutting water, electricity or fuel supplies to the territory, but instructed the security services to develop such a plan, the official said.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak was quoted as telling ministers that until Israel has completed development of a sophisticated rocket interception system, "the only solution is deep ground operations in Gaza".
- AFP
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