Special report:
Israel launches Gaza assault
A Palestinian boy runs past smoke to avoid Israeli sniper fire during an Israeli
army incursion in Beit Lahiya, in the northen Gaza Strip, Friday July 7,
2006. Israeli air and ground operations against the Palestinians continued on Friday.
So far, 29 Palestinians have been killed and over
100 injured, according to medics and witnesses. (Xinhua/AFP
Photo) |
GAZA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Three Palestinian militant
groups claimed on Saturday that their militants launched two homemade rockets at
Israel's southern town of Sderot.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades,
affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, and the
National Resistance Brigades, which is an armed splinter group of the Democratic
Front for the liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for the rocket
attacks in a joint statement.
"The rocket firing is a response to the continuing
Israeli assassinations and massacres against the Palestinians in the northern
Gaza Strip," said the statement.
"Israeli Apache helicopters flew over the area where
the rockets were fired, but our fighters return unharmed," it added. There was
no immediate report of any casualties in the attacks. The rocket firing came as
Israeli troops intruded toward Gaza City on early Saturday, killing at least two
Palestinians including a policeman.
Over 30 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have
been killed since the Israeli army launched the massive ground offensive on June
28 in a bid to rescue an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants and
thwart Palestinian rocket firing. But Israeli army officials have said that the
ongoing offensive might diminish rocket attacks but will not halt them
altogether. Enditem
Related: 2 Palestinians killed by
Israeli troops in Gaza
GAZA, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were killed
and eight others wounded by Israeli troops near Gaza City on Saturday,
Palestinian security sources said.
Dozens of Israeli army tanks pushed through the Karni
commercial crossing on the eastern Gaza border with Israel on early Saturday
morning and intruded toward Gaza City, said the sources.
Palestinian security forces, monitoring the border,
have evacuated from their posts, the sources added. Two Palestinians including a
policeman were killed by the Israeli army tank fire in the Shajaiyeh
neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Gaza City, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, Palestinian medics said that eight other Palestinians sustained
moderate or serious injuries during the Israeli incursion. Full story>>
Abbas urges for end to rocket
attacks for Israeli stop of "inhumane invasion"
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas attends a news conference
in Gaza City, July 7, 2006. Abbas said during the news conference that he
is making efforts to win the release of the Israeli soldier held by
Palestinian militants, but Israel should also free thousands of
Palestinian prisoners. (Xinhua Photo) |
GAZA, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmud
Abbas on Friday urged militants to end their rocket attacks on Israel, adding
the international community should also intervene to stop Israeli "inhumane
invasion" of the Gaza Strip.
In a news conference in Gaza City, Abbas told
reporters that "the rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip must stop."
Meanwhile, he said that the world must stop Israeli
"aggression and inhumane invasion" so that our efforts can get somewhere,
referring to efforts to secure the release of a 19-year-old captive Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalit. Full story>>
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