GAZA (Agencies)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israeli military operations on the Gaza Strip were more likely than a ceasefire agreement, after an Israeli man was killed in a mortar attack by Gaza militants, triggering Israeli air raids on the impoverished territory that left a four-year-old girl dead.
"As it seems now, we are closer to a military operation than to another arrangement," Olmert told reporters as he prepared to end a U.S. visit, referring to efforts by Egypt to mediate a truce.
"We are nearing the decision point. We are not happy about a military option but we certainly not afraid of one. It is my impression that Israel's conditions for a truce are not bearing fruit in the way that could lead to a ceasefire."
The statements came following the bloody developments on Thursday. The Israeli man was killed when two mortar rounds slammed into a kibbutz in southern Israel in an attack claimed by the armed wing of the Islamic movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military spokesman said three mortar bombs were fired from Gaza, with two hitting near a factory in the Nir Oz kibbutz, east of the southern Gaza Strip, in what was the first such deadly attack by militants since May 12.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, armed wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), claimed responsibility and confirmed that mortars were used.
Several hours later, Aya al-Manjar, four, was killed and her mother critically wounded in an air strike by an Israeli drone which was targeting militants in southern Gaza, medics at Khan Yunis hospital said.
The Israeli military said the mortar rounds had been fired from that area.
"The air force conducted a raid and fired at Palestinian gunmen," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
Witnesses said the girl and her mother were outside their house when they were hit by a missile. They said the gunmen managed to escape.
At least 10 Palestinians were wounded in an Israeli air raid early Friday on a Hamas police post in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said. The Israeli army said the raid was also in retaliation for the mortar attack. |
