Israel-Gaza conflict
October 30, 2011
The European Union foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, said on Sunday that she was "concerned" by a fresh exchange of fire by militants in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military.
"I wholeheartedly condemn the indiscriminate targeting of civilians wherever they are," she said in a statement. "I call on all sides to respect the ceasefire brokered by Egypt."
Shortly before dawn on Sunday, militant groups in the Gaza strip including Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they would observe a truce negotiated by Egyptian officials as long as Israel also kept to the ceasefire. Sunday was mostly calm until Israeli aircraft struck a pair of Palestinian militants from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killing one and injuring the other.
Israel confirmed the airstrike, saying it targeted "a terrorist squad that was preparing to fire rockets at Israel."
Addressing a weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the truce.
"There is no ceasefire," he told ministers. "I promise that the other side will pay even higher prices than what it has paid till now until it stops shooting. We will prevent any attempt to shoot at Israel, and will strike at anybody who nevertheless succeeds," he said.
Smaller militant groups have claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks against Israel, rather than Hamas. Israel, however, holds Hamas ultimately responsible for all violence coming from the Gaza Strip, which it controls.
Ceasefire slips away
The latest flare-up of violence began on Wednesday when an Islamic Jihad rocket hit an area near the Israeli port city of Ashdod, triggering a triple Israeli air raid several hours later. In the ensuing Israeli air raid and militant rocket attacks, 10 Palestinian militants and one Israeli have been killed.
The last several days have been the most deadly in more than two months, when clashes in and around the Gaza Strip killed 27 Palestinians and one Israeli. That spate of violence began when gunmen killed eight Israelis in the southern Negev desert. An Egyptian-brokered truce ended the attacks on August 26 and had largely held until now.
Author: Holly Fox (AFP, AP)
Editor: Nicole Goebel