JERUSALEM, March 28 — Israeli forces shelled targets in Gaza City and the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday after a suicide bomber killed himself and two Israeli teen-agers. Two other bombs were found and defused. The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, and said seven more bombers were ready to strike.
BEFORE THE ISRAELI attack, Palestinian officials evacuated the main Palestinian Authority headquarters building in Ramallah, saying that the Israeli military warned them to leave, indicating an impending attack.
There were no immediate details about the targets the Israelis were hitting in the two cities.
After the suicide attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was responsible for a wave of attacks by Palestinian militants against Israelis in recent days.
The blast followed two bombs in Jerusalem on Tuesday, and coincided with an Arab summit in Jordan at which the Palestinians were seeking political and economic support six months into an uprising against Israeli occupation.
Wednesday’s blast went off in the parking lot of a gas station near the northern Israel town of Sdeh Hemed. Hamas released a videotaped recording made by the alleged suicide bomber before the attack.
One of the students injured, Rafael Somer, 15, said the assailant approached three of his friends as they waited for their bus at the gas station near the West Bank.
“He looked at them. Then the explosion went off. I was hurled backward. When I got up, I saw one of my friends without hands. Another friend was torn apart,” said Somer, suppressing tears.
The boys killed in the blast were identified as Eliran Rosenberg, 16, and Naftali Landskoren, 14.
In the Gaza Strip town of Rafah, meanwhile, a 9-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and three other children were injured when an Israeli shell they played with exploded, doctors said. All of the injured were younger than 12.
TWO MORE BOMBS FOUND
Two bombs also were discovered Wednesday morning and safely exploded in the open-air markets of the towns of Netanya and Petah Tikvah. On Tuesday, Palestinian militants had carried out back-to-back attacks in Jerusalem, including a bombing near a bus that killed the assailant and injured more than two dozen bystanders.
NBC’s Dawna Friesen reported from Tel Aviv that Prime Minister Sharon had convened his security cabinet to weigh a response to the surge in bombings against Israel. Sharon has so far refrained from a direct response to the attacks, for fear of sparking outrage at the Arab summit that wrapped up in neighboring Jordan on Wednesday.
Friesen said that protesting Jewish settler groups urged Sharon to retaliate for the spate of suicide attacks and other violence. Sharon responded by saying restoring security remained his top priority.
“Even if (our) deterrence has been slightly eroded, it will be fully restored,” Sharon said, without detailing what action he would take.
The series of explosions, following Monday’s shooting death of a 10-month-old Israeli baby girl in Hebron by Palestinians, rattled Israelis, who demanded that Sharon do more to protect them.
“We have a war here,” said Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert.
Want to learn more? http://www.msnbc.com/news/468764.asp
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"I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask, is not an alien force ALREADY among us?" - Ronald Reagan
BEFORE THE ISRAELI attack, Palestinian officials evacuated the main Palestinian Authority headquarters building in Ramallah, saying that the Israeli military warned them to leave, indicating an impending attack.
There were no immediate details about the targets the Israelis were hitting in the two cities.
After the suicide attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was responsible for a wave of attacks by Palestinian militants against Israelis in recent days.
The blast followed two bombs in Jerusalem on Tuesday, and coincided with an Arab summit in Jordan at which the Palestinians were seeking political and economic support six months into an uprising against Israeli occupation.
Wednesday’s blast went off in the parking lot of a gas station near the northern Israel town of Sdeh Hemed. Hamas released a videotaped recording made by the alleged suicide bomber before the attack.
One of the students injured, Rafael Somer, 15, said the assailant approached three of his friends as they waited for their bus at the gas station near the West Bank.
“He looked at them. Then the explosion went off. I was hurled backward. When I got up, I saw one of my friends without hands. Another friend was torn apart,” said Somer, suppressing tears.
The boys killed in the blast were identified as Eliran Rosenberg, 16, and Naftali Landskoren, 14.
In the Gaza Strip town of Rafah, meanwhile, a 9-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and three other children were injured when an Israeli shell they played with exploded, doctors said. All of the injured were younger than 12.
TWO MORE BOMBS FOUND
Two bombs also were discovered Wednesday morning and safely exploded in the open-air markets of the towns of Netanya and Petah Tikvah. On Tuesday, Palestinian militants had carried out back-to-back attacks in Jerusalem, including a bombing near a bus that killed the assailant and injured more than two dozen bystanders.
NBC’s Dawna Friesen reported from Tel Aviv that Prime Minister Sharon had convened his security cabinet to weigh a response to the surge in bombings against Israel. Sharon has so far refrained from a direct response to the attacks, for fear of sparking outrage at the Arab summit that wrapped up in neighboring Jordan on Wednesday.
Friesen said that protesting Jewish settler groups urged Sharon to retaliate for the spate of suicide attacks and other violence. Sharon responded by saying restoring security remained his top priority.
“Even if (our) deterrence has been slightly eroded, it will be fully restored,” Sharon said, without detailing what action he would take.
The series of explosions, following Monday’s shooting death of a 10-month-old Israeli baby girl in Hebron by Palestinians, rattled Israelis, who demanded that Sharon do more to protect them.
“We have a war here,” said Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert.
Want to learn more? http://www.msnbc.com/news/468764.asp
------------------
"I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask, is not an alien force ALREADY among us?" - Ronald Reagan