By Ryan Jones
Sep 25, 2005
Israel at the weekend reaped more fruit of its recent ?disengagement? from the Gaza Strip.
Last week, that crop took the form of a brief international embrace of the Jewish state. Now Hamas and the Islamic Jihad have begun exploiting their newfound liberty from direct IDF interference to launch massive artillery barrages on Israel's Negev region.
More than 40 Kassam rockets fired from northern Gaza slammed into the town of Sderot over the weekend. Among the targets were a school, a residential complex and a community recreation center.
At least six Israelis were wounded in the bombardment.
Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal announced Saturday night that schools would be closed Sunday due to the threat to the town's children. Many classrooms still are not fortified against artillery attacks.
Islamic Jihad said its role in the bombardment was in response to the killing of three of its gunmen by the IDF in Tulkarm on Friday. Hamas said it was retaliating for an explosion at a rally for the group in Gaza City Friday in which 19 people were killed.
While Hamas insists Israel was behind that blast, PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas and other senior ?Palestinian? officials admitted the terrorists' mishandling of their own explosives caused the carnage.
In a tit-for-tat response to the weekend barrage, Israel attacked a handful of buildings and fields in Gaza used by Hamas to manufacture, store and launch Kassam rockets.
Four Hamas terrorists were also killed when an IAF helicopter gunship destroyed two vehicles they were traveling in north of Gaza City.
Israel's security cabinet Saturday night approved the use of IDF artillery in retaliation for the escalating aggression from Gaza, and heavy guns were deployed just north of the strip for that purpose.
As of Sunday morning, no such response had been ordered. A military source told Jerusalem Newswire that even if it were, the ?Palestinians? will apparently be given hours of advanced notice to clear the target areas, making any such strike ineffective.