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    Thursday, May 15, 2008

    Rocket hits shopping mall in Askelon as Bush meets Israeli leader in Jerusalem

    TEL AVIV — The Hamas regime has renewed rocket strikes against Israel.

    At least 14 Israelis were injured in a BM-21 Grad attack on the Israeli city of Ashkelon Wednesday. The Katyusha struck a shopping mall, which led to a collapse of the roof.

    "This is part of the Iranian war on Israel, which intends to gain control of the Middle East," former Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said.

    The Palestinian strike took place as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was concluding a meeting with visiting U.S. President George Bush in Jerusalem. The Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket launch. The Grad has a range of more than 20 kilometers.

    "We will not be able to tolerate continuous attacks on innocent civilians," Olmert said. "We hope we will not have to act against Hamas in other ways with the military power that Israel hasn't yet started to use in a serious manner in order to stop it."

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    This was the first Grad strike in Israel since late March. At the time, Hamas and its militia allies fired hundreds of rockets and missiles into Israel.

    The Grad strike capped increasing Palestinian missile attacks from the Gaza Strip on the eve of the Bush visit. Military sources said Olmert and Barak ordered the army to reduce operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during the Bush visit.

    The sources said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi has changed his position and was urging the government to approve a massive invasion of the Gaza Strip and the destruction of the Hamas regime. The sources said Ashkenazi has been rejected by Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

    "Instead of negotiating an imaginary peace, it is time for the government to instruct the IDF to decide the real war," parliamentarian Yuval Steinitz, former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said.

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