Israeli air strikes in Gaza
Gaza (AsiaNews/Agencies) In a meeting with police officers Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that pulling out of Gaza was the most important thing for the State of Israel. Meanwhile, tensions are running high not only between Israelis and Palestinians, but also among both Israelis and Palestinians.
Israel's reprisal against rockets launched from a cemetery in the Gaza Strip did not cause any casualty, say the latest news reports.
The fourth air raid against Palestinian targets was carried in the last few hours after a qassam rocket attack by Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades killed an Israeli woman in her 20s living in a kibbutz.
Israeli Army sources said that its units hit Palestinian positions in Khan Yunis, Deir el-Balah and Gaza.
At least one dead and 12 wounded in clashes between Palestinian police and militants, Palestinian, police sources reported.
Israeli political sources claim that the army was ordered into action in response to Palestinian attacks.
Israeli troops killed yesterday in Nablus Mohamed Safwat al-Aazi, a militant with the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades whilst he was giving an interview to a British journalist.
The President of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Mahmoud Abbas and Interior Minister Nasser Youssef declared a state of emergency in Gaza.
The situation in the Strip, which had gone from bad to worse in the last few weeks, has now gotten out of hand after Ahmed Sami Abu Jalil, an 18-year-old man from Tulkarem, blew himself up in a Netanya shopping centre, killing five people.
This was the first such attack to take place in Israel since February 25.
The circle of violence has started to spin out of control again after the handshake between Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas in Sharm el-Sheikh of February 9, which had raised some hope for peace.
The PNA President met the leaders of the "Palestinian resistance" in Gaza to salvage the truce and discuss what to do ahead of Israel's pullout from Gaza. A spokesman said that the visit was especially prompted by the latest attack in Netanya.
Sharon wants to shut down 21 settlements where some 8,000 Israelis lived in Gaza, an area home to 1.3 million Palestinians.
In his address to the police yesterday, the Prime Minister said it was necessary to isolate Israeli extremists who "could severely harm the state as a democratic country", adding that "I believe that disobedience is the worst thing, since it is against the state."
The pullout from Gaza is expected to start on August 17. The territory was taken from Egypt during the Six Day War and Israel has controlled ever since.
.png)
