Channels

Photo: AP
Israel will allow PA to stop terrorists before it proceeds with Gaza operation
Photo: AP
Photo: Reuters
PA security officers and terrorists clashed last week when forces tried to stop rocket launchers
Photo: Reuters
Photo: AP
Israel resumed its targeted killings of terrorists after a deadly rocket attack and suicide bombing
Photo: AP

Gaza raid delayed to test PA

Israel will stay put and not launch planned ground operation in Gaza to combat rocket-launchers, who continued their attacks on Sunday, in order to give Palestinian Authority a chance to take matters into their own hands, senior security source says

TEL AVIV - Israel has postponed a planned ground offensive into Palestinian areas in the Gaza Strip to combat terrorists to allow the Palestinian Authority to act against them first, a senior security source said on Sunday, as gunmen continued their rocket barrages into Jewish settlements and Israeli towns..

 

The army massed dozens of troops, tanks and vehicles outside southern Gaza late on Friday while forces killed seven Hamas terrorists in air strikes launched after the killing of an settler in Gaza, marking the latest in a fresh surge of violence despite a truce Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared in February.

 

Meanwhile, troops killed another Hamas gunman in Gaza on Sunday, Palestinian sources said. The army had no immediate comment.

 

Israel resumed the internationally condemned policy of targeted killings after the rocket attack and after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber killed five Israelis in the city of Netanya last week.

 

Gaza terrorists have in recent weeks bombarded Jewish settlements and Israeli towns with dozens of rocket and mortar bombs and have threatened to officially stop honoring a cease-fire Palestinian and Israelis leaders had declared in February, claiming their strikes were responses to Israeli killings of terrorists.

 

Two rockets landed in the Israeli border town of Sderot, a frequent scene of such attacks. There were no casualties reported. Terrorists also fired more than 110 mortar bombs at Jewish settlements in Gaza and in the western Negev desert, the army said. 

 

PA acts against terrorists

 

Israel has vowed to quell the flare-up in violence ahead of its planned evacuation of all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of 120 in the West Bank to ensure terrorists don’t disrupt the withdrawal, which is set to start in mid-August.

 

Palestinian security forces tried to stop rocket launchers last week, sparking gunbattles between the officers and the terrorists in what marked the deadliest internal fighting in the Palestinian territories in months.

 

Security officials, including Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Army Chief Lt.-General Dan Halutz, decided late on Saturday that Israel would not launch the planned ground operation in Gaza for at least a few days to allow the Palestinian Authority to continue to act against the terrorists, the senior security source said.

 

“Several things changed,” the source said. “We saw that the Palestinian preventive security forces and the Palestinian Authority were willing to confront (terrorists) on the ground. This is something we have never seen before.”

 

“This game called ‘calm’ is not longer relevant as far as we’re concerned,” the source added. “We have removed the gloves and are ready to proceed, but we must allow the Palestinians to implement the procedures that started over the weekend.”

 

The source also said statements by Abbas and Interior Minister Nasser Yousef, promising to restore law and order in the West Bank and Gaza, showed “they were willing to take matters into their own hands”.

 

We are at the starting line and are ready to proceed with the next move,” he added. “We will allow the Palestinians to take advantage of the new few days, assuming they meant the words that were said, which were the right ones. We will test them by their actions.”

 

The army last carried out an operation inside Gaza in December and killed 11 Palestinians, mainly terrorists. Its biggest offensive, operation “Days of Reckoning”, killed 104 Palestinians, mostly terrorists as well, in October. Both operations were launched to combat rocket launchers.

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.17.05, 08:20
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment