By KUNA
Gaza : A barrage of rockets targeted the southern Israeli town of Sderot early on Thursday causing damage, in a fresh attack by the Palestinians following bloody tit-for-tat military action between the Israeli and Palestinian forces over the past days.
A spokesman of the Israeli Army told Israel Radio 11 rockets were fired from northern Gaza in the direction of the town. Some of the missiles hit the town damaging houses and a lone one crashed into an industrial zone in the region.
Izz-Eddine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas organization, said it was responsible for the new attack and vowed to “avenge blood of the Palestinian people that has been spilled by the occupation forces.” In a separate statement, the military spokesman said the Palestinian gunners, on Wednesday, targeted the south of Israel with up to 70 rockets and mortar shells. He did not indicate at losses of these attacks, adding that they were debated by the Israeli Cabinet at a session held last night.
The Israeli radio said the authorities in Tel Aviv planned “escalatory” retaliation for the recurring firing of missiles from Gaza.
Israel will step up the retaliation action to prove with action that it does not intend to maintain “the policy of self-restraint vis-a-vis the Palestinians,” the radio quoted a security official as saying.
Up to 24 Palestinians were killed, over the past two days, in stepped-up Israeli attacks involving gunship helicopters. More than 50 others were also wounded. Among the dead was a top commander from the radical Islamic Jihad, and Hossam Zahar, the son of Hamas’ former foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar, who vowed “to answer Israel in the only language that it knows.”