Peres urges UN to halt attacks from Gaza
2011-04-07 21:09
New York - Israeli President Shimon Peres urged UN Security Council ambassadors on Thursday to call for a halt to attacks on Israel from Gaza after militants attacked a bus in southern Israel, wounding two people.
"If you want to bring peace to Gaza, the right way and the honest way is to tell the people of Gaza to stop shooting, stop smuggling arms," Peres told the ambassadors.
The Israeli president, who spoke to the ambassadors at the International Peace Institute in New York, noted that Israel had withdrawn from Gaza and had no intention of returning, but was still coming under attack from there.
"We have to think very seriously what will happen in the West Bank and if the United Nations can provide us with the answer to the security, go ahead," he said.
But he added: "We cannot have crossfire from Gaza and from the West Bank."
Gaza militants fired an anti-tank missile which hit a bus in southern Israel, critically wounding a teenager, as well as wounding one other person who was only lightly hurt, Israeli medics said.
Shortly afterwards, another 15 mortar rounds landed in southern Israel, one of which slammed into a house in a community directly opposite Deir al-Balah, an Israeli police spokesperson said.
Israel responded by shelling two separate areas in Gaza, killing one person and wounding at least 10, the Palestinian emergency services said.
"Defence Minister Ehud Barak ordered the IDF [army] to act swiftly with all the necessary means and to respond to the attack on the bus at Saad Junction," a statement from his office said.
"Defence Minister Barak added that he considers Hamas to be responsible for all incidents coming from Gaza."
