The latest round of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has continued after an Israeli woman died from injuries incurred in a rocket attack on Sderot.The woman, the first Israeli casualty from a Palestinian rocket since November, was travelling in a car when the rocket landed nearby. Another person travelling in the car was also injured.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack came after many days of constant shelling of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military. In the last week alone, approximately 35 Palestinians have been killed, many of whom were civilians. Scores more have been injured by the unrelenting Israeli strikes.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Israeli warplanes continued their aerial bombardment of the Gaza region, striking two buildings in the central Gaza area. While one of the buildings sustained extensive damage, no deaths were reported.
Meanwhile, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told Israeli radio on Tuesday morning that Israel could target Prime Minister Haniyeh as a means of countering Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
‘I’ll put it like this; there is no one who is in the circle of commanders and leaders in Hamas who is immune from a strike… When someone preaches that the state of Israel should be destroyed, he is not in the political echelon, he is a terrorist in a suit,” the Deputy Minister was quoted as stating.
For its part, the Hamas movement on Monday offered to halt the fire of Qassam rockets in return for a temporary truce that would include both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Despite this offer from the Hamas movement, Israel looks set to continue with its policy of bombarding the Gaza Strip with Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, stating: ‘It is our obligation to harm the rocket launchers and our obligation is to continue to harm Hamas.’
