30/06/2004 Israel Defense Forces troops early on Wednesday encircled the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun with tanks and tore up roads to halt the firing of Qassam rockets that have hit nearby Israeli communities in recent days, killing two people. Forces are expected to continue operating in the northern Gaza Strip on and off for the next few months in an effort to prevent Palestinians from firing Qassam rockets into Israel, military sources said Tuesday night.
Military activity in the northern Strip should not actually be seen as one finite operation but rather as a change in the army’s method of operations involving ongoing periodic incursions into the area from which the rockets are fired, the sources explained. IDF troops, bulldozers and tanks were to complete taking over the area from which the rockets were fired at Israel by the end of Tuesday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said earlier in the day. Mofaz was referring to the area between Beit Hanoun and the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, and said that troops would remain there for as long as necessary. „I am sure that after this takeover, the ability to launch Qassams will be diminished,” Mofaz said. „We will carry out further operations to damage the infrastructure for manufacturing the rockets and continue operations necessary to prevent the carrying out of the shootings,” he added. Asked how the IDF will deal with the Qassam threat after disengaging from the Gaza Strip, Mofaz replied that a different reality will be created after the withdrawal. „The chances that terror will diminish after the disengagement exist. However, the IDF will retain its freedom of movement,” he said. Troops killed a top Hamas commander in the northern Gaza Strip while encircling Beit Hanoun and using bulldozers to uproot undergrowth that could provide cover for rocket squads. In southern Gaza, soldiers shot dead a 14-year-old who Palestinian medics said was standing on the roof of his home. IDF sources said troops fired at a person watching them from an abandoned building used by gunmen. Qassams hit Sderot during Sharon visit Palestinians fired a new barrage of homemade rockets into the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday afternoon while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was visiting the area. Local officials said there were no casualties. Officials said at least three Qassam rockets landed near Sderot in the second attack, bringing to at least seven the number of rockets to hit the area Tuesday. Two people were wounded by the rocket fire on Tuesday. One moderately wounded man was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva. The attacks came a day after a similar barrage killed two people in Sderot. The victims were Afik Zahavi, age three and a half, and Mordechai Yosepov, 49. A senior official confirmed Sharon was in the town at the time of the attack and wasn’t harmed. The prime minister was in Sderot to meet with the Zahavi family and local dignitaries. „We don’t plan to ignore what happened here. The security services have begun taking actions whose aim is to prevent the firing of these missiles,” Sharon said. „We are determined to take wide-ranging actions to ensure that what happened here yesterday will not recur,” he said. It was unclear whether militants knew Sharon was in the area. IAF hits Hamas media center in Gaza The Tuesday military push followed a late Monday air strike on a Hamas-linked media center in Gaza. Shortly after midnight Monday, Israel Air Force helicopters fired three missiles into a 16-story building housing the Hamas-linked media center Al-Jeel, wounding two people, witnesses said. Minutes later, helicopters also fired a missile at a building housing a metal workshop in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, witnesses said. The high-rise targeted by the IAF on Monday night houses several media outlets, including the Arab TV satellite station Al-Jazeera. The army confirmed that the building had been targeted, saying in a statement the office was „a communication center which maintained constant contact with terrorists [and] through which Hamas claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks.” The foundry was said to be destroyed in the strike, with no reports of casualties. The IDF said Hamas had used the foundry to manufacture weapons. BPI.
