ISRAEL/GAZA: Palestinian rockets hit southern Israel as prime minister Olmert tours region

Record ID: 396686

  • Title: ISRAEL/GAZA: Palestinian rockets hit southern Israel as prime minister Olmert tours region
  • Date: 2nd January 2009
  • Summary: (WD) SDEROT, ISRAEL (JANUARY 1, 2009) (REUTERS) ISRAELI WELFARE MINISTER ISAAC HERZOG ARRIVING AT MEDIA CENTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI WELFARE MINISTER ISAAC HERZOG SAYING: "If needed all options are for further increase and enlargement of the operation. We mean business and our aim is to change the circumstances totally" (WD) ASHKELON, ISRAEL (JANUARY 1, 2009) (RE
  • Embargoed: 17th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA6YXXLPP7GCYNASMX0VTMGJSHP
  • Story Text: Israeli prime minister Olmert hopes to achieve aims quickly as rockets hit southern Israel on sixth day of deadly offensive against Gaza.
    Palestinian rockets slammed into southern Israel on Thursday (January 1) as Israeli war planes continued to pound Hamas targets in Gaza for the sixth day.
    Hamas rockets hit the Israeli cities of Beer Sheba, Ashdod and Ashkelon. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
    Rescue forces rushed to the scene of a rocket attack that hit an eight storey building in the Israeli port city of Ashdod. The rocket damaged the upper storey of the high rise and caused panic among some residents.
    Three Israeli civilians and a soldier have been killed by rockets from the Gaza Strip since Israel began an air offensive on Saturday with the declared aim of ending the threat.
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert toured Beer Sheba on Thursday, saying he hopes to achieve the aims of the offensive quickly.

    "I really hope that we will achieve our targets as quickly as possible. We have no intention of handling a long war," said Olmert.
    Other government officials flocked to the region to show support and brief the media.
    Israei Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog told foreign journalists in Sderot: "If needed all options are for further increase and enlargement of the operation. We mean business and our aim is to change the circumstances totally."
    In Ashkelon, Israeli Deputy Premier Haim Ramon said: "We are maybe in the end of the beginning but we are far from finishing this operation."
    Diplomats said that what is the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades could get even bloodier after days of air strikes that have killed at least 399 Palestinians, about a quarter of whom, U.N. figures showed, were civilians; more than 1,700 people have been wounded.
    In Gaza, Israeli aircraft attacked government buildings. Palestinian medical officials said three civilians were killed and 100 people wounded.
    Hamas security officials said buildings housing the education and transportation ministries had been very badly damaged. The Palestinian parliament building was also hit, they said. Gazans who ventured out of their homes walked along rubble-strewn streets to survey the destruction.
    Israeli tanks and soldiers were massed near the border of the Hamas-run coastal territory. The Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday that the Israeli army had recommended a major, but short-term ground offensive into the densely populated enclave.
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