Israeli Warplanes Hit Gaza

27/12/2005| IslamWeb

Israeli occupation forces have launched numerous air strikes in Gaza, saying it is in response to Palestinian rocket fire and will establish a buffer zone in the area.

Aljazeera's correspondent in Gaza reported that Israeli warplanes launched five air strikes inside the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The first attack targeted an uninhabited area while the second hit an office of Fatah in the city of Bait Lahiya, north of the Gaza Strip, causing serious damage.

The third strike struck east of the Gaza Strip, the fourth targeted the northern Salah al-Din street while the fifth one hit the city of Bait Hanun causing infrastructural damage. No casualties were reported.
The Israeli army said they sent in their warplanes after a number of rockets were fired into Israel, causing no damage or injuries. The firing was reportedly claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz had on Monday ordered the army to begin implementing a security zone in the northern Gaza Strip that Palestinians will be barred from entering, a ministry source said.

Israeli control of Gaza

The Israeli source said: "The defence minister has ordered the army to apply from Monday evening a decision taken last Thursday setting up a limitation on Palestinians circulating in the northern Gaza Strip, following rocket fire launched from this area toward southern Israel."

Israeli radio reported on Sunday that Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, had ordered the army to set a buffer zone in northern Gaza, a plan rejected outright by Palestinian leaders.

Any Palestinian straying into the zone, the extent of which will be determined by the Israeli occupation army, could be shot by troops from across the border.

Local media had reported that the army was awaiting an improvement in the weather before starting to enforce the area, but without re-occupying the territory it withdrew from earlier this year after a 38-year occupation.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian boy plays along the wall of the Rafah border between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip, December 26, 2005. (Reuters)