Rockets Launched from Gaza into Southern Israel

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

THE NEGEV, Israel – Multiple Qassam rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip and into Southern Israel during the past week. On March 19, a rocket fired by Palestinian militants killed a foreign migrant worker, reportedly a man from Thailand working on a farm, and the first casualty in Israel by rocket fire since the massive fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip during the winter of 2008-2009. Eighty-eight Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in the same period because of Israeli military operations and border clashes, according to the United Nations.

The rocket attacks are not, however, from Hamas, the ruling political party in Gaza. Since the end of the fighting in January 2009, Hamas has observed a de facto cease-fire with Israel. Rather, the rockets have been launched by some of the many disparate extremist militant groups in the Gaza Strip who have criticized Hamas for what they believe is its increasingly moderate stance toward Israel.

“These types of attacks from other groups in Gaza…anger Hamas, because Hamas wants to show the entire world they are in control here,” said Haidar Eid, a Gaza-based political analyst. “Hamas wants to govern and rebuild, but it’s not giving an alternative to the other groups who want to continue to fight Israel.”

Israel responded to the rocket attacks with airstrikes, attacking what Israel has characterized as a militant smuggling tunnel used to bring weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The airstrikes also targeted a workshop in Gaza City and an open field, according to Palestinian security officials and eyewitnesses.

Since Israel began its blockade on the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in Gaza have built a network of tunnels, used to bring in weapons as well as much-needed humanitarian supplies. During a recent trip to the Gaza Strip, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the blockade, saying it has caused “unnecessary suffering.”

As Israel ramped up military operations on the Gaza border, an Israeli soldier was killed on March 22, reportedly as a result of friendly fire.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel Raid Strikes Gaza Tunnel – 22 March 2010

Ma’an News Agency – Israeli Soldier Killed on Gaza Border – 22 March 2010

Ha’aretz – Gaza Rocket Fired at South Israel, Days After Deadly Strike – 21 March 2010

Christian Science Monitor – Hamas Fails to Rein in Rocket Attacks, Prompting Israel Strike – 19 March 2010

BBC News – Rocket Fire From Gaza Kills Man in Southern Israel – 18 March 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive