IDF: We struck Islamic Jihad rocket cache

Army officials report IDF attacked weapons storeroom which was used by organization to build long-range rockets. According to report, several terror activists were killed in strike. Palestinians say army struck house in Zaitun neighborhood, with no casualties

Hanan Greenberg|Published: 07.24.06 , 19:02

The Israel Air Force, in cooperation with the Southern Command, struck the Islamic Jihad's main weapons cache in the Gaza Strip on Monday evening.

Sources in the Israel Defense Forces told Ynet that the storeroom was used for building the long-range Grad rockets fired at Israel. The Palestinians reported that the explosion did not take place in a storeroom, but rather in a house in the Zaitun neighborhood, and that there were no injuries in the incident.

IDF officials said that several terror activists were hurt in the strike, some of whom are active in the Islamic Jihad's rocket production alignment. Several bombings took place shortly after the explosion, apparently caused by the ammunition stored in the area.

"This strike is part of a series of strikes carried out by the IDF in the past day to eliminate the weapon caches in the Gaza Strip," officials at the IDF Spokesperson's Office said. "We will continue to operate on all the operation channels in order to bring about a halt in terror and stop the rockets fired at Israeli citizens and in order to assist in creating the conditions for safely returning the kidnapped soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit."

5 Palestinians killed by shells in northern Gaza

Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported that at least five Palestinians were killed Monday and 17 were wounded, four of them sustaining serious wounds, after being hit by shells in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya.

According to the Palestinians, a man and his wife were killed Monday afternoon by a shell that was fired at them while they were riding on a donkey near the American school in the town.

According to the report, the shell directly hit a cart, and two 15 and 18-year-old boys, apparently the couple's children, where seriously injured.

Earlier, Palestinian sources in Gaza reported that at least three Palestinians were killed Monday and 15 injured, two of them seriously, by a shell which struck a building in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.

According to the Palestinians, the shell directly struck a structure and much damage was caused in the area. Witnesses say in recent hours the IDF has fired artillery shells at the area. Palestinian sources claimed the army was trying to hit civilian structures.

Earlier, an aircraft struck a structure in northern Gaza.

The IDF said fire was opened at an area used by terror organizations following Qassam rocket attacks from the area.

The army stressed that recently it distributed leaflets warning residents that those who stay in an area from which rockets are fired may be struck.

The Palestinians reported that dozens of Palestinian families were leaving their houses in the northern Strip for fear that the IDF would bomb the buildings they live in. The fleeing families are mostly residents of tall buildings in the Awdah neighborhood near Beit Lahiya.