jerusalem | With the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians crumbling, Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz warned this week that Israel would take matters into its own hands if the Palestinian Authority is incapable of preventing attacks.
But others called for immediate action: Israel needs to deal Hamas a “severe blow” prior to the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in response to their routine violation of the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire in recent weeks, Army Radio reported.
In the most violent 24 hours since the cease-fire was declared in February, three agricultural workers — two Palestinians and a foreign worker from China — were killed, and five Palestinian workers wounded, when a Kassam rocket hit a storeroom in Gush Katif.
In Sderot, a mother and her two daughters were treated for shock after their home suffered a direct hit when three Kassam rockets were fired at the western Negev town. In the afternoon, four Kassam rockets were fired into the western Negev, all landing in open areas near kibbutzim.
Visiting Sderot in the evening, Halutz warned that Israel’s patience would not last forever.
“I advise refraining from drawing conclusions based on what has occurred today, [but] if the Palestinian Authority continues to be weak, they must realize that first and foremost they are harming themselves and they could find themselves without a government. We will do everything required of us at a time and place we choose, but it will not be discussed in front of the cameras,” he said.
Settlers in Gush Katif called on the army to retaliate and warned that the situation would worsen unless the army resorted to an iron-fist policy to destroy terror.
In Sderot, residents were once again plunged into uncertainty and fear when the Red Dawn warning system alerted them of an incoming Kassam rocket attack. Three Kassam rockets fired from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza hit the city. Two landed in residential neighborhoods — one scoring a direct hit on a house — and the third hit an open area on the outskirts of the town.
A mother and her two daughters whose home was hit were taken to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital, where they were treated for shock. Hamas later claimed responsibility for the attack.