Tel Aviv (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Israeli army responded this morning to the latest Qassam rocket attack from Gaza by launching a raid into the Northern Strip. The overnight attack targeted the army’s training camp in Zikim wounding 66 soldiers. Four Palestinian civilians were wounded in the Israeli military operation.
The attack on the military base – the worst in recent months – was claimed by the “Al-Qods Brigade”, the military wing of “Islamic Jihad”. The group, behind most of the recent rocket attacks launched from the Gaza strip have announced a press conference for later in the day. The Qassam hit the soldiers as they slept in their tents. Over 40 of the wounded are in serious conditions.
Last weekend the Israeli premier Ehud Olmert had warned that Israeli would respond “without pity or hesitation” to Palestinian militant attacks from the Strip, which has been under the control of the radical Islamic Hamas since June. According to local experts, now local authorities will have to urgently answer two issues: first of all why soldiers were camper in such a risky area; and the second and far more serious problem of how to stop the racket attacks from Gaza. Despite regular incursions into the Palestinian territories and counter air attacks, Israel has been unable to stop racket launches against the south of the country. The Council of ministers just days ago decided to give the go ahead for “intense military operations”, but not to impose punitive measures on the already prostrated Gaza Strip, such as cutting off water, electricity and energy supplies.