Haaretz, under the headline "Katyusha strikes northern Ashkelon", reports this morning on a rocket fired by Palestinian Arab terrorists from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip reaching an open field north of Ashkelon.This is not as laconic a report as some might think. First, as Haaretz points out, it's the furthest north a terrorist rocket has struck yet in this ongoing assault on Israeli communities. Ashkelon is a city of nearly 120,000 people. This rocket flew right over the top of it, traveling about 16.5 km and landing on the city's north side - that's the far side of Ashkelon - narrowly missing a hotel. Had it flown a shorter distance, the damage might have been devastating - which is exactly the intention of the terrorists and their backers.
Second, this is not a Qassam but a Grad-type Katyusha, 122 milimeters in diameter. The Grad is a Russian design; the word Grad means "hail" in Russian. This is the kind of rocket that the Iranians excel in making and supplying; it has been used in previous terrorists attacks on Israel.
One report says this is the fifth time a Grad-type Katyusha has been directed at Ashkelon. Rockets of this kind were widely used in Hizbullah's assault on northern Israel in the summer of 2006 - the so-called Second Lebanon War. Reports yesterday quoted terrorists from Fatah saying they too had fired a Katyusha on Wednesday evening at the Israeli community of Shaked. The production of rockets like these is a major focus of terrorists energy in our region.
Two Qassam rockets were fired by Gaza-based terrorists into Israel's western Negev region, also this morning. There are no reports of damage or injuries in any of the incidents. This, as have mentioned before, is not the intention of the terrorists who seek any damage, any injuries, any concrete expression of their hatred - just as long as the victims are Jewish. This is what justifies them being termed terrorists and treated accordingly.
UPDATE: Thursday 6:45pm - A third Qassam rocket struck Israel this afternoon, this time damaging a residence in the southern city of Sderot. A woman needed hospital treatment for shock. And a report released today by Israel's National Security Council publicizes a grim tally: between 2001 and 2007, 20 people have been killed and 583 wounded in Israel as a result of Qassam attacks by the Palestinian Arab terrorists of Gaza.
UPDATE: Thursday 8:30pm - The tally so far today of rockets fired into Israeli communities by the Gazan-Pal-Arab terrorists is ten. 25 grenades had been fired up to early evening.
1 comment:
It completely evades my wit, cunning and education, why this shameful people, who call themselves Palestinians, are so comitted to cause harm to Israeli people. They sacrifice them(their)selves in the hope that one Israeli might die? Their economics are completeley down, they destroyed all the assets left behind in Gaza by the Israeli settlers instead of taking them over as a very beneficious gift. Who are these morons? And they deprive their own children with food for every Qasssam they fire. They should be convicted as war criminals against their own people.
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