Mosque in Gaza hit as Israeli air attacks intensify
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ISRAEL intensified its air assault against the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers yesterday, hitting a mosque it claimed was hiding rockets, as Palestinians said their death toll from the five-day offensive surpassed 125.
The military said it has struck more than 1,100 targets, including Hamas rocket launchers, command centers and weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, in a bid to stop relentless rocket fire coming Gaza.
Officials in the territory said that besides the mosque, the strikes also hit Hamas-affiliated charities and banks, and a home for the disabled, killing two women.
The central Gaza mosque was being used to conceal rockets like those militants have fired nearly 700 times toward Israel over the past five days, the military said.
While there have been no fatalities in Israel from the rocket fire, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said overnight Israeli strikes raised the death toll there to over 125, with more than 920 wounded. Though the breakdown of casualties remains unclear, dozens of civilians are known to have been killed.
The offensive showed no signs of slowing down yesterday as Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said his country should ready itself for several more days of fighting.
“We have accumulated achievements as far as the price Hamas is paying and we are continuing to destroy significant targets,” Yaalon said.
Hamas hopes the mosque attack will galvanize support for it in the Muslim world.
“(It) shows how barbaric this enemy is and how much it is hostile to Islam,” said Husam Badran, a Hamas spokesman.
“This terrorism gives us the right to broaden our response to deter this occupier.”
The Israeli military released an aerial photo of the mosque, which it claimed contained hidden rockets. It said Hamas and other Gaza militant groups use the tactic of abusing religious sites to conceal weapons and establish underground tunnel networks, deliberately endangering civilians.
“Hamas terrorists systematically exploit and choose to put Palestinians in Gaza in harm’s way ... proving once more their disregard for human life,” said Lt-Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman.
Civilians at risk
Critics though said the allegations are too sweeping, and that Israel’s heavy bombardment of the densely populated territory is itself the main factor putting civilians at risk.
Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said that while using human shields violates international humanitarian law, “this does not give Israel the excuse to violate international humanitarian law as well.”
Israel issues early warnings before attacking Gaza targets and the military says it uses other means to do its utmost to avoid harming bystanders.
But civilians have been killed when Israel bombed family homes or when residents were unable to leave their homes quickly enough after the warnings, Michaeli said.
The rocket fire from Gaza militants tailed off somewhat yesterday. The “Iron Dome” defense system, has intercepted more than 130 rockets, preventing any Israeli fatalities so far.
A handful of Israelis have been wounded, however, the most serious of which being when a rocket hit a gas station on Friday in the city of Ashdod, setting off a huge explosion.
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