ISRAEL: Israeli troops prepare for night operations around Gaza as another Palestinian rocket hits southern Israel

Record ID: 397113

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israeli troops prepare for night operations around Gaza as another Palestinian rocket hits southern Israel
  • Date: 27th May 2007
  • Summary: SOLDIER STANDING WITH GUN
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2MUABRG7X6WTGH21F6T6UAXWP
  • Story Text: Israel troops prepare for night operations near the border fence between Israel and Gaza while Palestinian militants continue to fire missiles into southern Israel despite frequent air raids. Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening (May 26) as another Palestinian rocket hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot, causing damage but no casualties.
    An Israeli army spokesman told Reuters that the military is conducting routine activity around the security fence in and around the Gaza Strip. He added that troops are operating near the fence and not entering populated areas.
    But while Israel stepped up its campaign against Hamas Islamists on Saturday, killing at least five fighters in the Gaza Strip in a wave of air strikes and seizing a Palestinian cabinet minister in the occupied West Bank, militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets into southern Israel.
    Residents of Sderot examined the damage caused to the house.
    Gaza militants, who have launched more than 220 rockets at Israel since May 15, signalled on Friday they might agree to renew a ceasefire. But after the latest air strikes, a deal appeared increasingly doubtful.
    A video that was distributed by the Israeli army, shows an Israeli airstrike from Friday (May 25), which the army says targeted a squad of militants who were on their way to launch rockets into southern Israel.
    In a separate operation near the West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli troops arrested the Palestinian Minister of State, Wasfi Kabha of Hamas, officials said.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose secular Fatah faction joined a fragile unity government led by the Islamist Hamas group two months ago, wants both sides to agree to a ceasefire as a step towards reviving peace talks with Israel.
    Hamas has resisted Abbas's call for a renewed truce but is aware the fighting has deepened Palestinian rancour at the government, already crippled by a Western aid embargo over its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.
    Israeli officials doubt any truce will last if Hamas can continue smuggling in arms into Gaza from Egypt.
    Previously, militants had said that in order to revive a Gaza truce declared in November, Israel must also agree to cease hostilities in the West Bank, another territory where Palestinians seek statehood. Israel rebuffed that demand.

    Ends.
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