Barak Offers to Halt Israel's Gaza Strikes When Hamas Stops Rocket Attacks
Israel-Gaza Strip Violence Escalates as Sides Exchange Blame
Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images
Mourners carry the bodies of three Palestinians during their funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 8, 2011, a day after they were killed in an air strike as the Israeli army staged multiple raids across the enclave.
Mourners carry the bodies of three Palestinians during their funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 8, 2011, a day after they were killed in an air strike as the Israeli army staged multiple raids across the enclave. Photographer: Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would halt air and artillery strikes on Gaza, which have left 17 Palestinians dead, if the Islamic Hamas movement ends rocket and mortar fire from the territory.
Barak spoke after the army reported that three mortars were fired from Gaza, bringing to about 120 the number of projectiles shot at Israel in the preceding 48 hours. Leaders of Hamas, the militant Islamic movement that controls Gaza, said yesterday that they too were seeking a cease-fire with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that if “the strikes against Israeli civilians and soldiers continue, the response will be much more harsh.” His remarks to the Cabinet today were broadcast on Israel Army Radio.
Violence has been escalating since April 7 when militants from Gaza fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli school bus, injuring a 16-year-old passenger and the driver. Israeli forces struck back after the attack, killing 17 Palestinians including a senior Hamas commander, according to Adham Abu Selmeya, director of emergency services for Hamas.
“We will stop firing if they stop all fire and it’s quiet,” Barak said in an interview broadcast on Israel Radio.
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union. Mohammed Awad, Hamas’s foreign minister, said mediators tried to broker a cease-fire on Friday “but Israel refused to commit.”
Cross Border
The escalation in Gaza prompted comparisons to the period at the end of 2008 before Israel launched a three-week operation that it said was aimed at stopping cross-border rocket attacks. More than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the fighting. Israeli officials have raised the possibility that the country may conduct another large-scale military operation to stop the attacks.
“We could reach the point where it spins out of control and we will have no choice but to re-enter Gaza.” Isaac Herzog, a former Cabinet minister from the Labor Party, said in an interview with Israel Radio.
The Palestinian Authority may appeal to the United Nations Security Council to meet on Gaza, Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath told reporters yesterday in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Militia Commander
An Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza yesterday killed Tayser Abu Snima, 29, a senior Hamas militia commander, and two assistants, Hamas said in a faxed statement. Abu Snima had been involved in several attacks on Israel, including a rocket attack on the southern resort city of Eilat, according to an Israeli army spokeswoman, who declined to be further identified under military rules.
At least 30 rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza yesterday and seven of them were intercepted by Israel’s new Iron Dome missile defense system, the army spokeswoman said.
Israel will receive $250 million from the U.S. to fund additional Iron Dome systems to protect against Gaza rocket attacks, Israel Army Radio reported today, citing unidentified security officials.
Hamas has ruled Gaza after seizing control in 2007 and ending a partnership government with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The group won parliamentary elections the previous year.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at jferziger@bloomberg.net; Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page