General Assembly Sixty-second session Agenda items 17 and 18 The situation in the Middle East Question of Palestine Security Council Sixty-third year Identical letters dated 12 May 2008 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council I write to inform you of a terrorist attack that occurred earlier toady, in which one Israeli civilian was killed from a Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli citizen, a woman of 70, was killed after a Qassam rocket hit a home in Moshav Yesha. The city lies 15 kilometres east of Gaza, showing an expanded range for these lethal attacks. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. To our chagrin, the present letter follows our correspondence just this past Friday (A/62/839-S/2008/311), in which I regretfully informed you of another Israeli civilian death in a rocket attack, that one at the hands of Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza since June 2007. As the ruling party, Hamas remains accountable for the relentless, vicious attacks on Israel’s citizens. The fatalities book-ended a weekend of severe hostilities, as no fewer than 21 Qassam rockets struck the western Negev on Saturday, and 3 more landed on Sunday. On Sunday, one of the rockets narrowly missed a school bus carrying children. Two additional rockets were fired earlier today, both believed to be Grad missiles, and one missed, by mere minutes, an area crowded with schoolchildren. My delegation has repeatedly pressed the United Nations to denounce all acts of violence and terrorism and to condemn States that aid and abet terrorist groups, which violate their obligations under international law, as well as Security Council resolutions. Israel will not stand idly by as its citizens are under constant attack, and reserves the right to defend itself from all armed attacks, as any other nation would, according to its inherent right under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. I should be grateful if you would have the present letter circulated as a document of the sixty-second session of the General Assembly, under agenda items 17, “Situation in the Middle East”, and 18, “Question of Palestine”, and of the Security Council. (Signed) Daniel Carmon Chargé d’affaires a.i.   sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/62/840 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2008/316 sss1 \* MERGEFORMAT A/62/840 sss2 \* MERGEFORMAT S/2008/316 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 08-33679 \* MERGEFORMAT 2 \* MERGEFORMAT 2 FooterJN \* MERGEFORMAT 08-33679 United Nations A/62/840–S/2008/316 General Assembly Security Council Distr.: General 12 May 2008 Original: English jobn \* MERGEFORMAT 08-33679 (E) 130508 Barcode \* MERGEFORMAT *0833679*