MIDEAST: Israelis and Palestinians bury dead from latest surge of violence amid continuing fire

Record ID: 352654

  • Title: MIDEAST: Israelis and Palestinians bury dead from latest surge of violence amid continuing fire
  • Date: 29th February 2008
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (FEBRUARY 28, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ARYE MEKEL WALKING TOWARDS CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARYE MEKEL SPOKESMAN FOR ISRAEL'S FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYING: "We have left Gaza in order not to return, but the current situation, the firing of rockets by Hamas, may leave us no choice," WIDE OF MEKEL
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAXT5H9SRV61URPU0F9ZEMEUBR
  • Story Text: Israel's army, and Gaza based Palestinian militants on Thursday (February 28) continued rocket attacks across the tense border in escalating violence that claimed the lives of 24 Palestinians and one Israeli since Wednesday (February 27).
    In latest Israeli strike, another militant was killed, raising the death toll to 24, after four boys, aged 10, 12, 13 and 15, were killed while playing soccer outdoors near the town of Jabalya.
    Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert said during a visit to Japan that Israel was weighing war, but appeared to suggest a major Israeli ground operation against militants in the Gaza Strip was not imminent, saying Israel's fight against them was a "long process" and it had "no magic formula" to halt frequent rocket attacks.
    Twelve Palestinians -- the four boys, seven militants and a civilian -- were killed in air strikes or by missiles fired from the ground on Thursday, the medical workers said.
    A six-month old Palestinian baby was killed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday. Hours earlier, five senior Hamas men died in an attack from the air and a rocket fired by the Islamist group at the Israeli border town of Sderot killed an Israeli civilian, the first such death since May.
    At a Gaza funeral attended by hundreds, Halil Al-Haya, a senior Hamas leader marched in a funeral procession for his son, a gunman who was killed in an Israeli strike. In Sderot, Israelis mourned 47-year-old Ronnie Yehiye, a father of four.
    In the village of Bitha in southern Israel, hundreds of mourners gathered to attend the burial ceremony for the man killed in Sderot on Wednesday.
    The Israeli military said 21 rockets and 12 mortar bombs were fired from the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Three people were wounded and Israel's internal security minister, visiting Sderot, scrambled for cover as a siren sounded.
    Two rockets flew deep into southern Israel, hitting a house and cemetery in Ashkelon, a city of 120,000 people. Police said no one was hurt.
    Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is negotiating with Israel, said in a statement Israel's military actions "aim to destroy the peace process".
    Spokesperson for Israel's Foreign Ministry, Arye Mekel said, "We have left Gaza in order not to return, but the current situation, the firing of rockets by Hamas, may leave us no choice," Mekel told Reuters in Jerusalem.
    Olmert said, however, that he planned to hold another of his regular meetings with Abbas within the next two weeks.
    Washington hopes the talks can result in a statehood deal this year but Palestinians have complained about their slow pace and Olmert has said the goal of the negotiations was an understanding of "basic principles"
    rather than a full accord.
    In Tokyo, Rice was asked whether she urged Olmert not to use disproportionate force in responding to the rockets.
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