MIDDLE EAST: Israel launches air strikes on Hamas and Israeli tanks cross the border into Gaza

Record ID: 339172

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Israel launches air strikes on Hamas and Israeli tanks cross the border into Gaza
  • Date: 18th May 2007
  • Summary: (BN12) SDEROT, ISRAEL (MAY 17, 2007) (REUTERS) WIDE OF HEAVY BLACK SMOKE RISING FROM FACTORY, HIT BY GAZA ROCKET, ON FIRE SECURITY FORCES TRYING TO PUT OUT FIRE VARIOUS OF FACTORY ON FIRE, BLACK SMOKE RISING MORE SECURITY FORCES ON SITE
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2007 13:00
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  • Reuters ID: LVA35HK1WGL4PZBUQIESC7D3TJUR
  • Story Text: Israel launched air strikes in Gaza on Thursday (May 17) against a Hamas security force, killing at least four people, in a powerful response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.
    Israeli aircraft destroyed Hamas security headquarters in the centre of Gaza City, wounding at least 40 people, .
    Rubble was all that remained of the building in central Gaza City building that housed Hamas's Executive Force, which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction wants disbanded.
    After the Executive Force building was hit, an Israeli aircraft destroyed a car carrying a senior commander in Hamas's armed wing, seriously wounding him and killing another militant.
    Another Hamas fighter was killed in an air strike at an Executive Force position outside the home of the Interior Ministry's spokesman.
    In southern Gaza, an Israeli air strike targeting a rocket launching crew killed two teenage brothers whom hospital officials described as civilians.
    In response to the intense air assault, Hamas's armed wing threatened to resume suicide bombings in Israel.
    Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said: "We will not be quiet for long with these continued crimes, and we will not stand with our hands tied. We're ready to launch any type of attack, by any means and equipment necessary, and in all the cities. We will choose the right time and place."
    A Hamas bomber last struck in Israel in 2004.
    Israel said it launched the air strikes in response to cross-border rocket attacks.
    Before the attacks in Gaza City on Thursday, Miri Eisin, spokeswoman for the Israeli prime minister's office, told Reuters: "Half a million Israelis right now are living under the dread of rockets. The Hamas are killing their own people, killing other Palestinians, killing Israelis. We won't allow them to use their violence, their terror, against Israel. Israel knows how to respond."
    She added: "We will not be dragged by the Hamas into the mire of Gaza."
    Rockets have continued to fall throughout the day on southern Israel despite the air strikes.
    An Israeli factory was set ablaze on Thursday when a rocket launched from Gaza hit the town of Sderot. No casualties were reported.
    Israeli troops with tanks entered the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave from which Israel withdrew in 2005. A spokesman called it a "small force" on a "defensive operation", leaving it unclear whether Israel was shifting its policy of leaving all but the areas closest to the border to Palestinian forces.
    Israeli artillery batteries were deployed along the Gaza border and local residents said tanks were moving towards northern Gaza towns. The army had no comment on the movements. Israeli forces recently completed training for a possible ground invasion of Gaza.
    The Israeli army broke into local radio broadcasts to warn northern Gaza residents not to approach Israeli forces operating in the area.
    The Israeli army has denied its attacks were connected to the factional violence, which has brought Palestinians to the verge of all-out civil war.
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