General Assembly Sixty-first session Agenda items 13 and 14 The situation in the Middle East Question of Palestine Security Council Sixty-second year Identical letters dated 29 May 2007 from the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council I write to inform you of the highly disturbing barrage of rockets launched by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip during the past week. From Monday, 21 May 2007, until Sunday, 27 May 2007, 86 Qassam rockets and 17 mortar shells were fired by Palestinian terrorists at Israeli communities in the south. Over the course of the week, two Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian rockets. Another civilian sustained serious injury; six others were lightly injured. In the aftermath of the attacks, countless civilians were treated for trauma and shock. Numerous private homes and automobiles were damaged and destroyed by the falling rockets. Additionally, the rockets caused damage to a synagogue, a gas depot and an industrial complex in Sderot. In the last two weeks more than 200 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian terrorists. Israel will not tolerate these relentless attacks. Israel reserves the right to exercise and act in self-defence, as any other nation would if faced with this intolerable situation. Hamas, which leads the Palestinian Authority, must relinquish its terrorist platform and embrace its responsibilities as enumerated by the Quartet, to recognize Israel, renounce violence and terror and abide by previous agreements. Israel urges the international community to do everything in its power to support an end to Palestinian terror against Israel. I should be grateful if you would circulate the present letter as a document of the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, under agenda items 13 and 14, and of the Security Council. (Signed) Dan Gillerman Ambassador Permanent Representative   sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/61/930 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2007/316 sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/61/930 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2007/316 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 07-36159 \* MERGEFORMAT 2 \* MERGEFORMAT 1 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 07-36159 United Nations A/61/930–S/2007/316 General Assembly Security Council Distr.: General 29 May 2007 Original: English jobn \* MERGEFORMAT 07-36159 (E) 310507 Barcode \* MERGEFORMAT *0736159*