Gaza airstrikes kill militants

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes today, killing five militants and hitting suspected weapons-storage sites in its campaign against Palestinian rocket squads.

Israeli officials indicated that Hamas political leaders might be their next target.

The US defended Israel’s retaliatory attacks while saying it was “absolutely regrettable” that lives were lost during the actions.

“Israel is faced with the difficult challenge countering these continued rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli territory,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

“They have a right to defend themselves.”

He said the US has urged Israeli officials to avoid any undue damage against the Palestinian infrastructure as well as to take into account how their actions can impact peace diplomacy with the Palestinians.

Fearing for their safety, Hamas leaders turned off their mobile phones, stayed out of official vehicles and reduced their movements as militant groups declared a state of emergency.

The precautions followed an Israeli airstrike late last night on the home of Hamas lawmaker Khalil Haya that killed eight people. Israel denied Mr Haya, who was not home at the time, was the target.

But Israel’s leaders said they would employ more drastic measures to stop the daily rocket fire from Gaza at Israel.

Today, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a car carrying four Islamic Jihad men, killing all of them. A spokesman for the group said they were targeted just after firing rockets into Israel. The military confirmed the attack.

Islamic Jihad, which has carried out hundreds of rocket attacks and suicide bombings in recent years, threatened “earthshaking” revenge.

Other airstrikes today killed a Hamas militant and hit suspected weapons-storage facilities, the army said. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since a decision last week to start hitting back for the rocket barrages.

Hamas pledged to “strike at the enemy anywhere in Palestine, whether with suicide attacks or operations against soldiers,” said Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Obeida. Since 2000, Hamas has carried out dozens of suicide bombing attacks in Israel, killing more than 250 people.

The Israeli strikes have not slowed the rocket barrages. At least 12 rockets were fired at Israel today, the military and Israeli media said, bringing the total over the past week to more than 150.

The home-made rockets have wounded 14 people, two seriously, over the past week, according to medical officials, and disrupted life in Israeli towns near Gaza. A direct hit yesterday destroyed a popular Indian restaurant.

A Security Cabinet decision yesterday to step up measures against militants, prompting calls to target the Hamas political leadership.

“I say we have to put them all in the crosshairs,” cabinet minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a retired army general, told Israel Radio.

Government spokeswoman Miri Eisin pointedly did not rule out the possibility. “What was decided yesterday in the security meeting is that all terrorists, including those that plan attacks, call for attacks or carry out attacks, are not immune,” she said. “We cannot differentiate between those who call for attacks and those who carry out attacks.”