OMEN
04-05-2006, 08:48 PM
GAZA: Israeli missiles hit a Palestinian security compound in Gaza, the first such air strike in two years, and Israeli shells killed a Palestinian in the north of the strip after rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
Hamas, sworn to destroying the Jewish state, said Israel was trying through the strikes, which wounded a policeman, to send a message in response to the Islamic militant group's victory in January elections.
Speaking to reporters, Hamas leader and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called the air raids "a serious escalation". Israel said it was responding to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Israel launched the strikes shortly after interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced his centrist Kadima Party expected centre-left Labour to be its senior partner in a coalition government being formed after elections last week.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who holds the power to appoint a prime minister from among the leaders of elected parties, is likely to decide on a candidate by Thursday, his spokeswoman said.
Israel's YNET News Web site quoted him as saying there was "no other candidate" than Olmert, who most factions endorsed during talks with Katsav earlier this week. If appointed prime minister, Olmert would have 42 days to form a government.
Kadima won the most parliamentary seats, but fewer than expected, on its plans to lay down Israel's final borders with or without Palestinian agreement. It secured 29 seats in the 120-member parliament. Labour came second with 19. Olmert was elected on a platform of withdrawing from more West Bank settlements while keeping large ones and setting Israel's borders, moves Palestinians condemn as land grabs.
GAZA AIRSTRIKES
Taking a page from Kadima leader and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who lies comatose after a stroke in January, Olmert had vowed an "iron" response to Palestinian militant attacks in the lead up to Israel's March 28 elections.
Israeli media said one of about a dozen projectiles fired from Gaza militants landed in an industrial area on the outskirts of the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon, narrowly missing a storage area for flammable materials.
The Israeli military said it had carried out two separate air attacks, one on an open field in northern Gaza from where militants fire rockets, and the other on an "open, unpopulated space" in Gaza City.
In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiyeh, separate Israeli fire killed one person and wounded about seven others, including several in a house, Palestinian security officials said. One of those wounded in the house was a four-month-old girl.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said artillery fire targeted rocket launching sites and did not intend to hit homes.
Earlier, Palestinian witnesses said two missiles fired from the air struck a training base used by Palestinian security forces in Gaza City. The office of President Mahmoud Abbas is nearby, although he was not there at the time.
"There is no justification for these operations. We do not understand them," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We have appealed to the United Nations, Russia, the EU (European Union) and our Arab brothers, telling them that these actions will severely complicate civil life."
Militants regularly fire rockets from Gaza, which Israel withdrew from last year after 38 years of occupation. But the makeshift missiles rarely cause casualties nor are they launched from Gaza City because they do not have sufficient range.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/reuters.gif
Hamas, sworn to destroying the Jewish state, said Israel was trying through the strikes, which wounded a policeman, to send a message in response to the Islamic militant group's victory in January elections.
Speaking to reporters, Hamas leader and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called the air raids "a serious escalation". Israel said it was responding to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Israel launched the strikes shortly after interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced his centrist Kadima Party expected centre-left Labour to be its senior partner in a coalition government being formed after elections last week.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who holds the power to appoint a prime minister from among the leaders of elected parties, is likely to decide on a candidate by Thursday, his spokeswoman said.
Israel's YNET News Web site quoted him as saying there was "no other candidate" than Olmert, who most factions endorsed during talks with Katsav earlier this week. If appointed prime minister, Olmert would have 42 days to form a government.
Kadima won the most parliamentary seats, but fewer than expected, on its plans to lay down Israel's final borders with or without Palestinian agreement. It secured 29 seats in the 120-member parliament. Labour came second with 19. Olmert was elected on a platform of withdrawing from more West Bank settlements while keeping large ones and setting Israel's borders, moves Palestinians condemn as land grabs.
GAZA AIRSTRIKES
Taking a page from Kadima leader and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who lies comatose after a stroke in January, Olmert had vowed an "iron" response to Palestinian militant attacks in the lead up to Israel's March 28 elections.
Israeli media said one of about a dozen projectiles fired from Gaza militants landed in an industrial area on the outskirts of the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon, narrowly missing a storage area for flammable materials.
The Israeli military said it had carried out two separate air attacks, one on an open field in northern Gaza from where militants fire rockets, and the other on an "open, unpopulated space" in Gaza City.
In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiyeh, separate Israeli fire killed one person and wounded about seven others, including several in a house, Palestinian security officials said. One of those wounded in the house was a four-month-old girl.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said artillery fire targeted rocket launching sites and did not intend to hit homes.
Earlier, Palestinian witnesses said two missiles fired from the air struck a training base used by Palestinian security forces in Gaza City. The office of President Mahmoud Abbas is nearby, although he was not there at the time.
"There is no justification for these operations. We do not understand them," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "We have appealed to the United Nations, Russia, the EU (European Union) and our Arab brothers, telling them that these actions will severely complicate civil life."
Militants regularly fire rockets from Gaza, which Israel withdrew from last year after 38 years of occupation. But the makeshift missiles rarely cause casualties nor are they launched from Gaza City because they do not have sufficient range.
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/reuters.gif