GAZA CITY Ñ Israel's military has destroyed Palestinian facilities
that produce the Kassam-class short-range rockets in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian sources said seven Israeli tanks and a bulldozer entered
overnight Friday the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Zeitoun and
destroyed three buildings where the rockets were being produced. Israeli
military sources said 22 lathes used to manufacture the Kassam rockets were
destroyed in the operation.
The Israeli military operation came after Hamas renewed rocket attacks
on Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip and within the Jewish state. The
Palestinians have at least three models of the Kassam, which is said to have
a
range of up to 10 kilometers.
Israeli military sources said Kassam rocket production has been financed
and overseen by the Palestinian Authority. They said most of the metal
workshops destroyed were in a complex of the PA police.
Overnight Friday, Palestinian gunners continued to fire Kassam rockets
toward Israel.
Two vehicles in an unspecified Israeli community were damaged.
Israeli military sources said they also plan to target facilities that
produce the Al Bana anti-tank missile. The missile is another product of
Hamas's military production facilities in cooperation with the PA and has
been increasingly used by Palestinian insurgents.
The increased use of Hamas's rockets came in wake of the Israeli
assassination of the movement's military leader Salah Shehada on Tuesday.
Another 15 people were killed in the F-16 bombing on Shehada's apartment in
Gaza City.
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Shehadeh
had been planning to pack a ton of explosives in a truck to blow up a target
within Israel. Ben-Eliezer termed this "mega-terror."
The ruling Fatah Party has also threatened retaliation in wake of
Shehada's assassination. A Fatah splinter group released a communique
that threatened to kill Israeli leaders, including current and former
military
commanders and ministers.
Palestinian sources said the Fatah communique was distributed in Lebanon
and not in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They said
the communique was read only by the Hizbullah-owned Al Manar television.