Israeli military stands by its policy on shelling populated areas
04:10:04 EDT Apr 11, 2006
JOSEF FEDERMAN
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Israeli military said Tuesday that it stood by its new policy of firing artillery shells into populated Palestinian areas in an effort to stop rocket fire at Israel, even after a round killed an eight-year-old Palestinian girl.
"There has been no change in policy," an Israeli military spokesman said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. "We will continue to fight them (the rocket launchers) intensely, while trying to avoid hurting innocent civilians." Hadil Ghraben was killed and 13 other people were wounded when two shells blew huge holes in a concrete block house in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon.
Relatives and neighbours in private cars drove bleeding children to the small local hospital. Doctors feverishly bandaged a wailing infant on a blood-splattered hospital bed as others took away the dusty and bloody body of the dead girl.
The army confirmed it was shelling populated areas from which militants fire rockets - a policy adopted just last week.
Israel has stepped up its strikes against Palestinian rocket launchers since the new Palestinian government led by Hamas militants took power two weeks ago.
Palestinian militants have threatened revenge, but the Hamas government is quietly urging them to refrain from launching rockets at Israel without permission, officials from both sides confirmed.
Although the rocket attacks have not stopped and Hamas says it still supports armed resistance against Israel, halting the upsurge in violence would better able it to focus on other brewing crises.
Government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said Hamas, which has not been participating in the rocket attacks, would try to get control over the rocket fire by negotiating with other militant factions.
"We want resistance to be arranged and organized," Hamad said.
Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections in January on a platform pledging to end government corruption and improve public services. But since being sworn into office, the government has found itself facing international isolation, a financial crisis, Palestinian infighting and now growing violence with Israel.
An Israeli security official said it appears Hamas is trying to regulate the rocket fire because uncontrolled violence is against its interests. The official was not permitted to be identified under military rules.
Islamic Jihad, which has been behind much of the rocket fire, said it would continue the attacks.
"It is time to be united against the occupation aggression and not to talk about a new period of calm," Mohammed al-Hindi, an Islamic Jihad leader, said in a radio interview. | 