Scene of Monday’s attack
Photo: AFP
'Gaza attacks to continue despite civilian casualties'
Security officials say Israel will continue attacking Qassam rocket launchers, rocket labs in Gaza despite death of three civilians, two teens, child, in Monday’s Air Force attack. ‘Palestinians, particularly terrorists, must take into account that in this war Palestinian civilians may also be harmed’
Israel will continue with its attacks against Qassam rocket launchers and rocket labs in Gaza despite the death of three civilians in Monday’s Air Force attack, according to government security sources.
The IDF refused to comment on the death of Palestinian teens in the attack.
“We do not expect the Hamas government to prevent Qassam fire toward Ashkelon, Sderot and the western Negev,” a source said.
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“The firm course of action displayed in Monday’s Air Force attack will persist. The Palestinians, and particularly the terrorists, must take into account that in this war, in which the army is protecting the citizens of Israel, Palestinian civilians may also be harmed.
“We will do everything to prevent this from happening, but unfortunately, due to the nature of the (terror) cells’ activity and the activity of their activists within the general population, the risk harm to innocent people as well.”
'Sporadic Qassam fire will continue'
Military officials fear that the death of the three civilians, two teens and a child, may undermine Israel’s legitimacy in its war against terror.
The targeted killings policy, decided on by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, are a direct result of the recent rise in Qassam fire toward the country.
Sources in Jerusalem said that while the current policy does not deviate significantly from the previous one, it does entail a rise in initiated IDF and Shin Bet activity on the ground, aimed mainly at preventing rocket fire at security-sensitive facilities in Ashkelon.
It is estimated that sporadic Qassam fire will continue until the establishment of a Hamas-led government, which will then work to decrease the attacks in a bid to show the western world that the organization is capable of controlling the terror groups in Gaza.
Security establishment sources said that the IDF has developed ways to significantly decrease the number of Palestinian civilians harmed in the attacks, as the attacks carried out in the past few months indicate.
The last time Palestinian civilians were hurt in an IDF attack was in October 2005, when a senior Islamic Jihad member was assassinated. Security sources claimed that the death of three civilians in the attack was a result of explosives that went off in a car. Military Advocate General Avihai Mandelblit is examining whether the October incident should be investigated by Military Police.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to the report
