More than 30 Rockets Hit Israel over Weekend, Sderot Residents Protest Netanyahu and the Likud party MP will hold their weekly meeting in Sderot, Tuesday. By Amihai Zippor 11.06.06 (IHC News, 11 June 2006) In the latest escalation by the terrorist regime in Gaza, more than 30 rockets were launched at Israel over the weekend hitting Jewish communities as far away as the southern port city of Ashkelon causing several injuries, one serious. The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority has formally taken responsibility for the upsurge, saying it was in response to the killing of seven Palestinian civilians in Gaza on Friday. “We have decided to make Sderot a ghost town,” Hamas spokesman Abu Ubeideh said, referring to the bombarded Israeli town on the outskirts of Gaza on Sunday, 11 June 2006. “We are not going to stop launching our rockets until they leave,” he said, playing off comments made by Sderot officials in recent days that the continued attacks will cause the city to shut down and its residents to leave. Meanwhile, as damage was reported across the region, including a school where one Qassam hit a first grade classroom, Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal announced all schools would be closed until the missiles stop falling. Also, Sderot residents fed up with the government’s inability to stop the attacks on their community have begun a hunger strike outside of Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz’s home, also a resident of their town. Peretz suspended IDF fire at Gaza on Friday until at least Tuesday in order for an inquiry to decide whether Israel was to blame for the deaths of the seven Palestinians. It is still unclear whether the unfortunate loss of life was the result of an IDF artillery shell that veered off target or a Palestinian Qassam rocket that went off course and landed in crowded PA territory. In the past, Palestinian terrorists have blamed Israel for their own mishandling of illegal weapons, the most deadly occurring when 21 Palestinian civilians were killed when a truck full of explosives blew up at a crowded rally in Gaza last September. For nearly a month blame was directed at Israel until the terrorist group Hamas finally admitted it was at fault, as a cache of hidden weapons it was transporting exploded prematurely. |
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