By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
Jul 15, 2005
Terrorists launched dozens of rockets and mortar shells at Jewish communities, Hamas gunmen assaulted Palestinian Authority police stations, and Israeli forces went on a limited offensive as violence in the Gaza Strip escalated ahead of Israel's planned withdrawal from the area.
On Thursday afternoon, ?Palestinian? terrorists operating out of northern Gaza's Bet Hanoun fired at least 20 Kassam rockets and mortar shells at nearby Israeli towns both inside the Gaza Strip and in the neighboring Negev region.
A 22-year-old Israeli woman was killed by shrapnel to the head when one of the rockets slammed through the roof of her home in Moshav Netiv Ha'asara just north of Gaza.
Dana Gelkovitch was reportedly sitting on the porch with her fiance at the time of the fatal attack.
In southern Gaza, several mortars were fired at the Katif Bloc of Jewish communities. One shell scored a direct hit on the home of David Hatuel, whose pregnant wife and four daughters were gunned down at point-blank range by Palestinian Arab gunmen last year.
Hatuel was uninjured in the shelling.
Overnight, 15 more mortar shells were fired at Gaza's Jewish communities causing damage, but, miraculously, no injuries.
The barrage continued Friday morning, with at least six Kassam rockets hitting the Negev town of Sderot by press time.
Hamas and PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction both claimed credit for the ongoing artillery assault.
Israel responded overnight by launched a limited missile strike on Hamas workshops in central Gaza. Army officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon felt a more substantial military response would negatively affect the planned evacuation of Gaza's Jewish residents scheduled for next month.
Health Minister Danny Naveh warned Israel was in danger of doing precisely what Sharon promised it would not ? retreat from Gaza under fire.
Meanwhile, Abbas declared a state of emergency in Gaza after Hamas gunmen assaulted a Palestinian Authority police station.
The inter-Palestinian violence started when PA police officers ordered to put a halt to the artillery attacks opened fire on a vehicle carrying Hamas members that refused to pull over.