Israeli Forces Inch Into Northern Gaza

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Associated Press | July 06, 2006

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces on Thursday took over an area of northern Gaza that used to be home to three Jewish settlements, creating a temporary buffer zone meant to prevent Palestinian militants from firing rockets at Israeli towns and cities.

The army last week launched its largest operation in the coastal area since it withdrew from the territory a year ago. The operation, which followed the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, was expanded overnight after militants from the ruling Hamas group fired two homemade rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, which used to be out of their range.

The tanks and troops will avoid entering densely populated areas, such as the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, and harming innocent civilians, Cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. He added, however, that they will ensure rockets do not hit Ashkelon or the nearby rural town of Sderot, which has been a target for four years.

No one was hurt in the attack on Ashkelon, a city of 110,000, but it infuriated Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who pledged the rocket strikes would have "far-reaching consequences."

Israeli artillery and aircraft assisted the ground troops, striking bases and groups of militants. Early Thursday, Hamas officials said one militant was killed and another wounded in an airstrike on a Gaza beach. The army said the air force had targeted an armed militant.

In another incident, a Hamas militant and a Palestinian policeman were killed and 11 others wounded in an explosion along the northern part of the beach. Palestinians said Israeli tanks or gunboats shelled the area. Israel denied that, but the military was checking whether an airstrike was involved.

In nearby Beit Lahiya, Palestinians fired at a car carrying a crew from the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, wounding two people, said Wael Dahdouh, one of the reporters in the car. The gunmen apparently thought the reporters were Israeli undercover agents, he said.

The destroyed Jewish settlements - Nissanit, Dugit and Elei Sinai - are in a strategic location just along the border with Israel. Before Israel dismantled its Gaza communities, critics of the withdrawal warned that the pullout would put more Israeli cities within rocket range.

A buffer zone could be the only way to keep Israeli population centers out of rocket range. But such a zone brings back bitter memories of a similar tactic Israel used in southern Lebanon, when its forces held onto a security zone for 18 years in an attempt to prevent Hezbollah guerrillas from firing rockets at Israel.

The guerrillas still fired rockets, and the zone became a deadly battlefield. Pressure from Israelis opposed to the occupation finally forced Israel to withdraw in May 2000.

Hamas said in a statement Wednesday that the rocket fired at Ashkelon was a new, longer-range weapon that can hit targets at least 7.5 miles away. That could mean the Gaza buffer zone would have to run deeper than the area of the abandoned settlements, bringing forces into populated areas the army is reluctant to enter.

Forces also remain in southern Gaza, an area invaded after Cpl. Gilad Shalit was captured in a June 25 attack on an Israeli outpost. Their main goal is to find Shalit.

At his daily briefing, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Palestinians must release the soldier and stop the rocket attacks, but he called on Israel to show restraint so that in the future "there is the possibility of a negotiated settlement."

Egyptian and Turkish mediators were trying to end to the worsening crisis.

The Hamas-linked militants holding Shalit have demanded that Israel release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about the captive. Israel has publicly refused to negotiate with the militants holding Shalit, but could be indirectly communicating with Hamas through mediators.

In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on both sides to "step back from the brink." He said the soldier must be released and Israel must avoid collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

Israel clamped a total closure on Gaza after the soldier was captured, trying to prevent militants from moving him out of Gaza. In the last two days, Israel has reopened two crossings to allow badly needed food and fuel into Gaza. The Gaza-Egypt border was to open briefly Thursday to allow Palestinians stuck on either side to return home.

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