Palestinians Shell Israeli Coastal VillagePalestinian gunmen Thursday evening launched a mortar attack on an Israeli village just north of the Gaza Strip, Israel Radio reported.Three mortar shells exploded in the agricultural hothouses of the village Netiz Ha'asara, located inside Israel and not far from the Erez checkpoint at the northern entrance of Gaza, the report said. But no casualties were reported A large number of Israeli police and army contingent have gathered at the scene and army forces in the area have been placed on high alert in response to the shelling for fear that the Palestinians may attempt further mortar attacks, the radio report said. Israeli army spokesman Olivia Rapovitz told Xinhua that "this is a serious matter," but said that Israel will continue to fight " terrorism" in an effort to restore security to its people and "ease the life of the Palestinian population." This is the second time that Palestinians launched mortars shells into Israel. On March 18, the Palestinians fired three mortar shells over the pre-1967 Green Line from Gaza at the military guard post across the road from the entrance to Kibbutz Nahal Oz in southern Israel. A soldier suffered light shrapnel wounds in the attack. Thursday's mortar attack came after a leading member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement was killed in a blast at a booby-trapped telephone stand in the West Bank town of Jenin earlier in the day. Israel has been carrying out "liquidation operations" against Palestinian resistance activists and leaders. |
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