Jihad vows to target Ashkelon

By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular 
March 07, 2006
Haaretz 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/690914.html http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/690914.html

Islamic Jihad has vowed to fire Qassam rockets at downtown Ashkelon to avenge an Israeli targeted-killing operation that left five Palestinians dead yesterday. The fatalities included two Jihad operatives, two children and a third bystander. 

To date, no Qassam has ever made it as far as downtown Ashkelon, which is 11 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. Rockets have landed in an industrial zone south of the city that is only eight kilometers from Gaza. However, Islamic Jihad is known to have been trying to increase the range of its rockets. 

The military operation took place in Gaza City at about 5:30 P.M., when Israel Air Force jets fired two missiles at an ice-cream van in which Munir Sukar, 27, and Ashraf Shaluf were traveling. According to the security services, Sukar is responsible for numerous Qassam launches at Israel, as well as an attempt to send a suicide bomber to Jerusalem last month, while Shaluf is also a Jihad operative. 

However, the strike also killed Raad Al-Batash, 8, Mahmoud Al-Batash, 15, and Ahmed A-Susi, 24, who were nearby when the missiles hit. Eight other passers-by were wounded, and Sukar's uncle, who lives nearby, died of a heart attack apparently brought on by the strike. 

Afterward, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz declared that Israel will lay its hands on everyone who acts against it, and particularly all those involved in planning or carrying out Qassam launches. 

Sukar is the second senior Jihad operative to be killed in Gaza in the last week. Last Wednesday, Khaled Dahduh was killed when his car exploded, and Islamic Jihad accused Israel of assassinating him. Israel, however, declined to comment. 

A senior defense official told Haaretz last night that he was convinced that this wave of targeted killings would bear fruit. When two senior Jihad members are killed one after the other, even this extremist organization does the math, he said. They understand that the Qassams have caused us almost no damage recently, while operatives are paying with their lives. [Islamic] Jihad will respond to the assassination, but in the slightly longer term, such acts deter them. Admittedly, this is a determined enemy that is willing to sacrifice its people, but this is true only up to a limit - and they are approaching that limit. 

Following Dahduh's death last week, Islamic Jihad launched more than 10 Qassams at Israel. Yesterday, even before the assassination, three rockets were fired at the northern Negev, but caused no casualties. 

Elsewhere yesterday, a soldier suffered light to moderate injuries while his unit was arresting Sa'id Yassin, a senior Hamas operative, in the West Bank city of Nablus. The soldiers went into the house and captured Yassin without trouble, but as they were leaving, Palestinians opened fire on them.