VARIOUS: Islamic Jihad says it attacked Israeli army base

Record ID: 352854

  • Title: VARIOUS: Islamic Jihad says it attacked Israeli army base
  • Date: 12th September 2007
  • Summary: WIDE OF GAZA CITY STREETS
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA66LXC39ZYF4LQ4JAXR2ODG9KR
  • Story Text: Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, claims responsibility for a rocket attack on an Israeli army base where the number of wounded was the highest in a single rocket attack launched from the Gaza Strip.
    Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group, has claimed responsibility for the rocket attack on an Israeli army base close to the border with Gaza.
    An army spokesman said about 30 soldiers were wounded on Tuesday (September 11). It's the highest number of wounded in a single rocket attack launched from the Gaza Strip.
    The rocket hit the Zikkim training base for new conscripts, two days before Israel celebrates Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
    Israeli media reports said shrapnel ripped through a tent where soldiers were sleeping. Dozens of parents with sons and daughters serving in Zikkim flocked to the camp and clamoured at its gates for word on their children's fate.
    The strike on the army base seemed certain to boost calls in Israel for a large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip against militants. Hamas Islamists took over the Gaza Strip during fighting against the long-dominant Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas three months ago.
    Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Israel left the Gaza Strip, ended the military occupation, but still had to deal with daily rocket attacks from extremists who were not interested in peace or reconciliation.
    He said Israel would do whatever it had to do to defend its people.
    Israeli officials have said that sending in troops to confront well-armed Palestinian gunmen would lead to heavy casualties on both sides.
    Israel pulled troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. But militant groups consider the territory still occupied because Israel controls its borders, air space and coastal waters.
    At a news conference in Gaza City, a member of Islamic Jihad said the Al Quds Brigades - the military wing of Islamic Jihad in Palestine - and the Al Nasser Salah El Dein Brigades - the military wing for the popular resistance committee - were responsible for the latest attack.
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