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Israel warns of Gaza invasion
29/02/2008 17:04 - (SA)
Ashkelon - Israeli leaders warned on Friday of an approaching conflagration in the Gaza Strip as Israel was forced to activate a rocket warning system to protect Ashkelon, a city of 120 000 people, from Palestinian rockets.
Ashkelon was hit by several Grad rockets fired from Gaza on Thursday, a sign of the widening scope of violence between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
"It will be sad, and difficult, but we have no other choice," Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence mister, said on Friday, referring to the large-scale military operation he said Israel was preparing to bring a halt to the rocket fire.
"We're getting close to using our full strength. Until now, we've used a small percentage of the army's power because of the nature of the territory," Vilnai told Army Radio on Friday.
After Thursday's rocket attacks on Ashkelon, Israel activated its "Code Red" rocket warning system there.
The system picks up incoming rockets and sounds an alarm in the target area, giving residents time - a few dozen seconds, in Ashkelon's case - to scramble for cover.
On Friday, dozens of soldiers in orange berets from the Israeli military's Home Front Command arrived in Ashkelon and hung posters around the city instructing residents on what to do in case of a rocket attack.
Despite past rocket hits in Ashkelon, Israel hesitated to activate the "Code Red" system there because officials didn't want to send 120 000 people running for shelter every time a rocket was launched in the direction of the city.
The army is now considering installing more radars near Ashkelon so that the system will be able to better analyse the course of an incoming rocket and warn only the residents of the target neighbourhood, rather than the whole city, defence officials said.
Israeli troops and tanks were in action Friday in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian witnesses and the military, and Israeli aircraft continued to pummel targets in the coastal territory.
Thousands took to the streets across Gaza on Friday in funerals for the dead of the past days.
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, addressed a crowd of around 2 000 Hamas supporters at Friday prayers, his first public address after nearly a month and a half during which he and other Hamas officials have largely remained out of sight because of fears Israel could assassinate them.
"You are mistaken if you thought that targeting buildings, ministries and police stations is going to stop our work," Haniyeh said, directing his comments at Israel.
"We will work under trees, in tents and in the streets."
After prayers, thousands marched in towns across Gaza waving the flags of Hamas and other militant groups.
Some children at the protests wore white clothes stained with red paint to resemble blood.
- AP
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