Israeli forces launch new Gaza operation


Reuters
 Date: 01-02-05

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli tanks have rumbled into the northern Gaza Strip to try to stop cross-border rocket attacks described by front-running Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas as useless.

The offensive into the town of Beit Hanoun began just hours after Israeli forces ended a three-day-long incursion into Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza aimed at halting mortar and rocket attacks by militants against nearby Jewish settlements.

"I have ordered the army to act decisively against mortar and Qassam rocket squads," Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters after the new raid got under way on Sunday.

The violence, a week before Palestinians elect a successor to Yasser Arafat, posed a particular challenge to Abbas, who has called for an end to bloodshed but also promised not to abandon militants wanted by Israel.

In a Reuters interview on Saturday, Abbas said rocket attacks against Israelis were counterproductive because they drew strong retaliation. Militants vowed to continue them.

"It is true that there are some issues regarding rockets, which are useless, but in return there is a grave, a very grave Israeli escalation," Abbas said.

Courting the support of militants at a campaign rally in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday, he told the crowd: "We say to our brothers -- the fighters, the fugitives -- we will not rest until they enjoy safety and security and a dignified life, and live in their homeland in full freedom."

ISRAELI RAID BEGINS AFTER ROCKETS HIT SOUTHERN TOWN

Witnesses said about 50 Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers moved into the northern Gaza Strip.

The raid began after two rockets hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot, wounding a woman. Later, mortar bombs wounded two men in an Israeli industrial zone on the border with Gaza.

Israeli forces carried out a 16-day offensive in northern Gaza in October, killing at least 100 Palestinians to try and stop rocket fire into Israel.

Violence in Gaza has escalated in the run-up to a planned Israeli pullout from the occupied territory by the end of 2005.

Militants hope to portray an Israeli withdrawal as a victory, while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged tough action to ensure settlers and troops do not leave Gaza under Palestinian fire.

Mofaz gave no timeframe for the latest raid. Israel has promised to pull its forces out of Palestinian towns at least 24 hours before voting begins on January 9.

Twelve Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the Khan Younis operation. Most were identified by militant groups as gunmen but two of the dead were described by local residents as teenagers watching the fighting.

Israeli forces destroyed 25 homes and a market in Khan Younis during the operation, U.N. relief officials said.

The army says it demolishes houses that provide cover for mortar and rocket squads. Residents said militants had not fired from their neighbourhood.

Source

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