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Israel fires missile at motorcycle rider in Gaza it says was responsible for rocket attacks | Israel fires missile at motorcycle rider in Gaza it says was responsible for rocket attacks |
(about 5 hours later) | |
JERUSALEM — The Israeli air force said it fired a missile at a top Islamic Jihad operative as he rode his motorcycle in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, wounding him. Israel said the man was responsible for a recent series of rockets launched from Gaza. | |
It was the first targeted killing attempt by Israel in Gaza since April and signals rising tensions. | |
An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said the target was Ahmad Saad, 22, described as “a key Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in the Gaza Strip specializing in rocket launching.” | An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said the target was Ahmad Saad, 22, described as “a key Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative in the Gaza Strip specializing in rocket launching.” |
Saad was in serious condition at a Gaza hospital, according to a spokeswoman for the Islamist militant organization Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip. Isra al-Modallah, the spokeswoman, said a 12-year-old boy also was injured in the attack. | |
The Israeli military said Saad was responsible for five rockets aimed at Ashkelon on the Israeli coast Thursday. They were downed by the U.S.-funded Iron Dome missile defense system. Israel responded by firing missiles at Gaza that struck a weapons storage cache and launchpad, the military said. | |
Modallah called the targeted killing attempt “a new act of aggression” by Israel. | |
Photographs of Saad’s motorcycle showed charring and damage to the rear tire and seat, but the bike could still rest upright on its kickstand. | Photographs of Saad’s motorcycle showed charring and damage to the rear tire and seat, but the bike could still rest upright on its kickstand. |
Although Saad was allegedly a member of the Islamic Jihad faction in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that it was ultimately responsible for any rocket fire emanating from Gaza. | |
“We are determined to preserve the quiet in the south,” Netanyahu said Sunday at his weekly cabinet meeting. “We do this through a policy of prevention and by responding powerfully against those who try to harm or hurt us. I suggest that Hamas take our policy into account.” | |
Netanyahu recently vowed not to let “a drizzle of rockets accumulate into a rain” from Gaza. | |
In a statement, Islamic Jihad said Israel’s operations in Gaza may lead to the collapse of a November 2012 cease-fire, which ended a brief but intense air war between Hamas and Israel in which both sides fired about 3,000 rockets. | |
Later Sunday, the Israeli military said it would return the “bodies of terrorists” to Palestinian families, the Associated Press reported. Israeli media said 36 bodies would be returned. |
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