Eight Palestinians were reportedly wounded in the southern Gaza Strip Thursday when the IAF struck a vehicle in the town of Khan Yunis. Among the wounded were several children, according to Palestinian sources.
The strike targeted 25-year-old Mahmoud Hamdan Samiri, a Khan Yunis resident involved in the terrorist cell behind Tuesday's roadside bomb attack at the Kissufim crossing, which killed one IDF soldier and wounded three others.
The air strike came after a Kassam rocket was fired Thursday morning at southern Israel. The rocket fell in an open area near the town of Sderot and did not cause woudned or damage. It was the second rocket fired into Israel since the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead eleven days ago.
On Wednesday night, an IAF jet struck a weapon manufacturing facility in the Rafah area late, in response to another Kassam rocket fired from the Strip at Israel several hours earlier. The IDF identified an accurate hit. The rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol region, causing no casualties or damage.
The air strike was the army's first attack on a building inside the Strip since the operation ended.
Following Wednesday's attack, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that Israel would respond to every act of aggression, including rockets fired at open areas.
Tracers of rockets fired from Gaza.
Photo: AP [file]
In an official statement released overnight Wednesday, the government reiterated Livni's words, saying that "The IDF will respond to any terror attacks in accordance with decisions made by the Israeli government."
"As the sole authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas bears full responsibility for all terror originating from within its area of control," the government said in the statement.
Haim Yalin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, told The Jerusalem Post that the rocket represented a moment of truth for the government, and called for a firm response to avert the next war.
"During Operation Cast Lead, I and other local authority heads sat with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and told them: 'It does not matter at what stage the military operation ends, what matters is what Israel does after the first rocket is fired,'" Yalin said.
"We have now reached that stage. If the government fails to respond, and says the rocket was fired by a marginal group, we will be faced with another war soon. If we respond as we should, then we can hopefully spare ourselves another war," he added.
"Israel must not show restraint. We have known this situation for too many years. It is like a child in a kindergarten testing his limits," Yalin said.
"The children have gone to sleep with raised pulses. What will we tell them tomorrow at school?" he asked.
Earlier Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak canceled a planned visit to Washington DC where he was scheduled to meet US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Barak said that he canceled his trip so he could oversee the developments in Gaza. The IDF, he said, was prepared for every possible development.
