ISRAEL: 22 Palestinian rockets pound Israeli town on the day of relaunching peace talks

Record ID: 353342

  • Title: ISRAEL: 22 Palestinian rockets pound Israeli town on the day of relaunching peace talks
  • Date: 13th December 2007
  • Summary: (BN13) SDEROT, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 12, 2007) (REUTERS) PALESTINIAN ROCKET IN STREET IN RESIDENTIAL AREA CLOSE OF ROCKET ISRAELI RESIDENTS, POLICE AT SITE CLOSE OF POLICEMAN TALKING ON WALKY-TALKY RESIDENT WALKING BEHIND ROCKET LOOKING AT ROCKET SHATTERED GLASS OF HOUSE WINDOW DAMAGED BY ROCKET HIT RESIDENTS WALKING IN STREET WHERE ROCKET HIT
  • Embargoed: 28th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVAFRJR6H53Q4VSK7V9M3JNRPE
  • Story Text: A salvo of 22 rockets fired by Palestinian militants from the isolated Hamas-run Gaza Strip hit the Israeli town of Sderot while negotiators in Jerusalem discuss peace.
    Palestinian militants fired at least 22 rockets and mortars into Israel on Wednesday (December 12), pounding the town of Sderot -- on the frontline of Israel's conflict with Palestinian militants.
    The rocket attacks did not cause casualties but damaged several houses and infrastructure in the town neighbouring Gaza.
    The salvos fired from Gaza came on the day when Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Jerusalem for the first formal peace talks in seven years.
    Islamic Jihad militants claimed they have fired the rockets from Gaza.
    Militants in the Gaza Strip, seized by Hamas Islamists from their Fatah rivals in June, fire short-range rockets and mortars every day at towns in southern Israel. While few cause damage or injury, the rockets spark widespread panic among residents.
    The Jewish state on Tuesday ( December 12) mounted one of its biggest incursions into Gaza in recent months, sending dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles into the territory and killing at least five gunmen.
    Israel, which withdrew troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but still controls its borders, regularly launches raids into the coastal strip to try to curb rocket fire but reiterated on Wednesday a broader military offensive was not imminent.
    Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told a security conference in Tel Aviv that Israel will find a solution to the rocket threat.

    "We know the aim of stopping Qassam rocket fire still has not been achieved and there is still a long way ahead of us. It is a complex and difficult situation, but as we found solutions in the past, we will resolve this problem as well," Barak said.

    "We are exerting all efforts and we will find a solution. The solution requires common sense, responsibility. It is not a simple thing and I hope we will not reach a 'no choice situation and will have to resort to doing what we now, still, do not want to do," he added.
    Earlier on Wednesday, the mayor of Sderot, Eli Moyal, resigned live on radio in protest at the government's failure to halt rocket fire from Hamas-run Gaza. Moyal said he hoped his "sacrifice" would increase pressure for tougher action.
    Located in the Negev desert, Sderot began as a transit camp for impoverished Jewish refugees from North Africa, and its residents have long complained of neglect by Israel's political establishment.
    ENDS.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register